Speaking Club

What Speaking Club does

Speaking Club is a bootstrapped, founder-operated online language-learning platform founded in 2018 by UK-based English teacher Boris Da Silva, headquartered in Bayonne, France, with data hosting in Stockholm, Sweden on AWS. The core product is a Zoom-integrated meeting platform where members from 170+ countries practice English (and French, Spanish, German) through structured 1-on-1 conversations hosted by 26 paid and community hosts, with 79,000+ registered members and roughly 44+ weekly meetings across languages. The platform layers a tiered subscription model (Free, Standard at €8/month, Premium at €12/month, Pro at €24/month, with annual discounts and a 30% student discount) on a freemium funnel that begins with 4 free trial meetings and converts via product-led and community-led growth motions, including a Partner Program offering 50% commissions and a Host Exchange Program that converts active members into community hosts in exchange for free Premium.

The technical stack consists of a proprietary meeting management system and partner search tool on top of Zoom, with a Chrome extension (Auto Breakout) that automates breakout-room creation by reading participant metadata from the Zoom DOM. The recently launched AI Speaking Coach (Pro tier, 2026) and AI Feedback feature (Standard and above) use OpenAI as a sub-processor to interpret Zoom live captions, generate real-time speaking tips, produce post-meeting reports, and assign CEFR-level (A1–C2+) scores. The platform distributes via direct-to-consumer self-serve on speakingclub.com, an Android app on Google Play, Google SSO, and an active presence on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. The core customer segment is individual adult language learners seeking speaking practice, exam preparation (IELTS), or job interview rehearsal, with no enterprise or institutional customers identified in the data. The company has no external funding, no parent company, no subsidiaries, and no disclosed revenue.

Name

Speaking Club

Legal name

Speaking Club

Website

https://speakingclub.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Speaking Club is a bootstrapped online language-learning platform that connects 79,000+ members from 170+ countries for live, Zoom-based 1-on-1 English speaking practice hosted by professional and community hosts, monetized via tiered subscriptions (€8–€24/month) with an AI Speaking Coach on the Pro tier.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Language Learning

NAICS

Translation and Interpretation Services (541930), Translation and Interpretation Services (54193)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Conversation Clubs & Speaking Practice Groups (EDAMAFAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

English Conversation Clubs & Community Practice Programs (EDAAACAI), Teacher-Led Conversation Exchanges (Language Partner Matching & Facilitated) (EDAMAFAN), Community/Group Chat Platforms (BPAMACAH), Speech Translation & Multilingual Speech Tech (HDAAAFAE)

Keywords

• Online language learning
• English speaking practice
• Video conversation platform
• AI speaking coach
• Language exchange community

Headquarters

HQ city

Stockholm

HQ country

Sweden

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Subscription - Standard Plan: Monthly subscription at €8/month or annual at €79/year providing 2 hours/week of meeting access, ability to add friends, IELTS meetings, Job Interview meetings, and AI Feedback feature.
2. Subscription - Premium Plan: Monthly subscription at €12/month or annual at €119/year providing unlimited hours, all Standard features plus Debate meetings, Group discussions, Check-In meetings, and Daily Streak tracking.
3. Subscription - Pro Plan: Monthly subscription at €24/month or annual at €239/year providing unlimited hours with all Premium features plus Live AI Tips, Live stats panel, Meeting report, and Progress tracking.
4. Gift Memberships: Prepaid gift memberships available: 1 Month Premium (€14), 3 Months Premium (€39), 6 Months Premium (€69).
5. Community Membership (Half Price): Half-price access to Community Meetings (non-native host meetings) as part of Host Exchange Program.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Speaking Club operates an online language practice platform where members join professionally hosted Zoom meetings to practice English (and select French, Spanish, German) in structured 1-on-1 conversations with partners from around the world. The core product combines scheduled live meeting access with a tiered subscription model (Free, Standard, Premium, Pro), an AI Speaking Coach for real-time feedback, a Language Exchange Partner Search tool, and native Android/iOS mobile apps.

Product overview

Speaking Club is a language-learning platform built around live, video-based speaking practice. The core product is the Speaking Club Meetings platform — a Zoom-integrated online meeting system where members from around the world practice English (and French, German, Spanish) through structured 1-on-1 conversations in professionally hosted sessions. This is supported by a Language Exchange Partner Search tool for finding practice partners outside of formal meetings. The platform operates a tiered subscription model with four paid plans: Free (limited weekly access), Standard (IELTS/Job Interview meetings + AI Feedback), Premium (Debates, Group Discussions, Check-In, Daily Streak), and Pro (adds the AI Speaking Coach with live tips, stats, reports, and progress tracking). Specialized meeting types include IELTS Preparation, Job Interview, Debate, Group Discussion, Daily Check-In, and Community Meetings (hosted by non-native speakers). Additional offerings include Certificates of Completion, Gift Memberships, an Android app, a Chrome Extension (Auto Breakout) for automated breakout room management, a Partner Program (affiliate), a Host Exchange Program, and community content including the Speaking Club Show and Members Show on YouTube. The platform spans 79k+ members, 26 hosts, and 170+ countries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Speaking Club Meetings The primary online meeting platform where members practice speaking English (and French, German, Spanish) in real-time video sessions via Zoom. Each meeting is one hour divided into two 30-minute parts, featuring 1-on-1 conversations with partners from around the world, hosted by trained hosts who provide questions and organize breakout sessions.
• Language Exchange Partner Search

Quantifiable outcome

• Members can earn certificates of completion for meeting participation to show to potential employers

Named customers12 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability5 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and strategic.

• OpenAIcoreTechnology or IntegrationOpenAI serves as the AI sub-processor for the AI Speaking Coach feature (Pro plan). During Zoom meetings, user spoken contributions are transmitted to OpenAI to generate real-time speaking tips and post-meeting feedback reports. Data is processed under OpenAI's terms and is not used to train AI models. This partnership enables the core AI-powered coaching functionality.
• AWS (Amazon Web Services)coreTechnology or IntegrationAWS provides cloud hosting infrastructure for Speaking Club's platform. Data processing occurs in Stockholm, Sweden using AWS eu-north-1 region. AWS is described as a trusted service provider operating services on behalf of Speaking Club.
• ZoomcoreTechnology or IntegrationZoom video conferencing platform is used for all Speaking Club meetings. Hosts manage sessions with breakout rooms, and the AI Speaking Coach reads live Zoom captions for real-time feedback. Users must have Zoom installed to join meetings.
• DevUpLinkcoreTechnology or IntegrationDumindu Madushanka, head of DevUpLink, is the lead developer of the Speaking Club platform. DevUpLink appears to be the primary development partner responsible for building and maintaining the platform.
• Host Exchange Program PartnersstrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity members who become hosts through the Host Exchange Program receive free Premium membership in exchange for hosting at least one English meeting per week. This creates a mutual benefit: hosts get free access while the platform expands its meeting capacity globally.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Babbel: Established subscription language-learning platform with self-paced courses across 14 languages. Comparable adult learner segment and subscription model, but Babbel is content-led and asynchronous rather than live-conversation-led.
• Open English: Subscription-based online English school for Latin American adults offering live group classes and 1-on-1 sessions with teachers. Comparable target demographic (adult English learners) and live-conversation product, differentiated by teacher-led professional delivery.
• Duolingo: Largest consumer language-learning platform with gamified self-study and a growing live-tutoring feature (Duolingo Max with GPT-4). Comparable broad language-learning category and consumer subscription model, though Duolingo is primarily mobile-app-based self-study.

Direct peers

• Verbling: Live 1-on-1 language lesson platform with professional teachers and group classes. Overlaps with Speaking Club's video-based speaking practice and adult learner base, though Verbling is teacher-led with structured curricula.
• Cambly: On-demand 1-on-1 English conversation platform connecting learners with native-speaker tutors via video. Closely comparable use case (English speaking practice via live video) and target learner (international adults), though Cambly is tutor-driven without structured group meetings or community features.
• italki: Marketplace connecting learners with professional language teachers for 1-on-1 video lessons. Comparable target customer (adult language learners) and 1-on-1 live-conversation format, but italki is teacher-led and paid-per-session rather than community-hosted.
• Preply: Online language tutoring marketplace with tutors across 50+ languages, including structured English conversation practice. Comparable business model (1-on-1 video sessions) and customer segment, differentiated by tutor-led professional instruction.
• HelloTalk: Global language-exchange community with millions of users offering text, voice, and video chat across languages. Closest competitor to Speaking Club's partner-matching and conversation-practice model, with a much larger but less curated community.
• Tandem (Hello Innovation Labs): Mobile language-exchange app pairing users for 1-on-1 chat-based and call-based practice across languages. Directly comparable to Speaking Club's language partner search and conversation focus, though Tandem operates asynchronously and without structured hosted meetings.

Emerging players

• ELSA (English Language Speech Assistant): AI-powered English pronunciation and speech-coaching app using speech recognition to provide real-time feedback. Comparable to Speaking Club's AI Speaking Coach on the AI-feedback dimension, though ELSA focuses on solo pronunciation drills rather than live conversation with partners.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@SpeakingClubOnline
• Facebookfacebook.com/speakingclubonline
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/speaking-club
• Instagraminstagram.com/speakingclubonline

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Speaking Club