ELSA

ELSA develops AI-powered English pronunciation and speaking coaching. Its main product, ELSA Speak, is a mobile app that gives learners instant feedback on pronunciation, fluency, and intonation, with practice modules for IELTS exams and job interviews and an AI coach available 24/7. The company reports more than 50 million learners and roughly 4 million exercises practised each day.

At the centre of the product is a proprietary speech recognition engine trained on data from speakers of 195 different native languages. Rather than simply flagging errors, it identifies why a learner mispronounces a word and how to correct it, working to build muscle memory for sounds that are absent from a learner's first language. The company's technical work spans speech recognition, machine learning, natural language processing, pronunciation assessment and education technology.

ELSA was founded by Vu Van, whose own experience of being misunderstood because of her accent prompted the venture. The team combines linguists, engineers and educators, and the company emphasises making learning personal through technology: a psychologically safe setting in which mistakes feel safe and progress feels measurable. Learners are drawn from 195 native-language backgrounds worldwide, and the founder's background links Vietnam with the United States through Stanford.

ELSA operates across education technology, language learning and ESL, test preparation, and career and interview preparation. Specific figures for headcount, founding year and funding are not stated.