Estonia’s Vocal Image Raises $3.6M Seed Funding with AI-Powered Voice Coaching App and 1 Million Real-Voice Samples
In Estonia, voice coaching startup Vocal Image, boasting 4 million app downloads, aims to empower individuals to enhance their vocal and communication abilities through AI-driven instruction. The mission resonates deeply with CEO Nick Lakhoika, a Belarus native who overcame speaking anxiety despite not learning English until his move to Estonia and facing bullying in school for unclear diction.
Lakhoika’s journey inspired the creation of Vocal Image, which initially started as a YouTube channel. The subscription-based app offers an affordable alternative to one-on-one coaching, allowing users to practice comfortably from home, with features such as tongue twisters, breathing exercises, and guidance on body language.
Recently, the addition of co-founder and CTO Mikalai Karaliou has enabled Vocal Image to leverage AI for personalized feedback and recommendations. The platform focuses on professional development, improving leadership skills, public speaking, and presentation abilities, as well as self-confidence, and supporting LGBTQ individuals, reflecting the passion of co-founder Maryna “Rusia” Shukiurava for advocating for their rights in Belarus.
The trio, originally from Belarus, relocated to Estonia due to political unrest. The business-friendly environment proved favorable, and Vocal Image joined Startup Wise Guys, a local accelerator that considers the startup one of its success stories due to its rapid growth. With an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $12 million and 50,000 paid users as of August, the startup aims to expand its development team and offer more language localizations beyond English, Spanish, German, French, Ukrainian, and Russian.
Vocal Image recently secured a $3.6 million seed round led by French edtech VC firm Educapital, with participation from Specialist VC and Generations Fund. With a team of 20 people, mostly Belarusian expatriates, the startup aims to leverage this funding for growth and further refine its AI capabilities, which are bolstered by a dataset of over 1 million real-voice samples collected daily.
As one of five winners of Hugging Face, Meta, and Scaleway’s European AI Startup Program, Vocal Image faces increased competition but is differentiated by its GDPR-compliant AI technology and user-driven Voice Rating feature that labels recordings based on confidence levels or childlike tones. This unique dataset will help Vocal Image improve accuracy and potentially assist other AI startups in refining artificial voices.
