Lightspeed and SWC Global led the $3.75 million pre-Series A round for Stimuler, an AI-powered spoken English learning platform.  Additionally involved are Operators Studio, Rebright, Force Ventures, GradCapital, and M Venture Partners.

The money raised will be utilized to develop its technical staff, improve its AI infrastructure, and increase its market share internationally, especially in Latin America and Southeast Asia. In the next 12 to 18 months, Stimuler wants to grow revenue fivefold.

For those learning English as a second language (ESL), Stimuler provides a voice-first tutor. According to the app, it has over 45,000 paying users on both iOS and Android and over four million installs.

With substantial uptake in Indonesia and other nations, the majority of its users are based outside of India. Users of the program receive real-time feedback on their grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and fluency. Users in more than 175 countries are served by the company.

Akshay Akash, CEO of Stimuler said, "At Stimuler, our goal is simple, to make fluent English speaking accessible to people worldwide. This funding allows us to deepen our investment in AI infrastructure, expand our reach across LATAM and SEA, and move closer to becoming the #1 education app in these key markets. We believe our India-to-the-world and voice-first approach positions us uniquely to address the unmet needs of a billion English learners."

Harsha Kumar, Partner, Lightspeed said, "Stimuler is solving a universal need - making spoken English proficiency more accessible with sharp execution and deep product insight. Akshay and his team are building a truly global company from India, with early traction across LATAM and SEA geographies validating both the opportunity as well as the approach. As voice AI transforms learning, I believe Stimuler has built a platform to lead the category for the next billion users. We are excited to back their journey.”

Tuck Lye Koh, founding partner at SWC Global said - "Consumer AI is an interesting category globally for us and the team at Stimuler has built a global-ready product which is seeing a strong user engagement. We are looking forward to our partnership with Akshay and team to build Stimuler into a leading Spoken English platform globally".