SoapBox Labs develops a voice engine that accurately understands children’s speech patterns and accents down to the phoneme level, returning detailed phoneme-level data to teachers. Its core product powers preK–12 screening, practice, intervention and assessment tools for literacy, math and language learning. The company says its automated speech recognition can analyze each utterance to help teachers pinpoint individual challenges and personalize instruction across large numbers of students. By the end of June 2023 the engine had been integrated into products from over 50 education companies and delivered more than 80 million learning experiences globally. SoapBox plans to use newly received funding to develop a Spanish-language voice engine to support millions of young literacy and language-learning students across the U.S. Founded in 2013 and led by CEO Martyn Farrows, the company recently received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; the amount was not disclosed. Its solution received the Prioritizing Racial Equity in AI Design Product Certification from Digital Promise. SoapBox Labs, based in Dublin, develops proprietary high-accuracy speech recognition technology tailored to children's unique speech patterns. Founded by Dr. Patricia Scanlon, the company's technology powers third-party digital games, literacy, and English language learning offerings for children. It licenses online, offline and embedded kids' speech recognition solutions to companies in literacy and English language learning, smart toys, AR/VR, robotics and gaming. Its technology was chosen for the Reach Every Reader initiative, a partnership involving the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the MIT Integrated Learning Initiative, Florida State University and other practitioners, students and families across the US. The company raised $6.5M in a Series A; backers included Elkstone Capital, Astia and private investors. It intends to use the funds to continue to expand operations and its business reach. SoapBox Labs develops children's speech-recognition models and an API for third-party hardware and app developers, targeting use cases such as educational reading apps, children's voice-control for IoT, smart toys, and AR/VR. The team has collected thousands of hours of children's speech data and uses deep learning plus proprietary scoring algorithms to improve accuracy over adult-trained systems. The company argues adult-focused speech tech performs poorly for kids due to higher-pitched voices and different speech patterns, and has therefore built models specifically for younger speakers. SoapBox has released an English-language children's speech recognition API and says a number of partnerships will be announced soon. The startup plans to use new funding to add multiple languages to its platform and expand its offering. Its approach includes research-backed ideas such as switching models when a device detects a child versus an adult speaker. Soapbox Labs is a Dublin, EIRE-based developer of a children’s speech-recognition technology platform. The platform is designed and trained for children aged 4–10 to ensure accuracy for young voices. It aims to power voice-enabled apps and services for children across education, voice-based search, connected/interactive toys, gaming and virtual reality, wearables, and IoT solutions. The company raised €1.2m in seed funding. Backers included Astia Angels and Enterprise Ireland. The firm intends to use the funds to expand in EIRE and the US. The article does not report revenue or user metrics.

Total raised

$10M

Funding rounds

5

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Apr 2020