Yoodli, the Seattle-based startup using AI to improve real-world communication skills, has lifted its valuation to more than $300M — over triple what it was six months ago.
The jump follows a $40M Series B led by WestBridge Capital, with participation from Neotribe and Madrona, bringing the company’s total funding close to $60M.
AI Built To Support People, Not Automate Them Away
At a time when workplace AI often triggers fears of human replacement, Yoodli positions itself firmly on the opposite side. The platform uses AI to simulate conversations — from sales calls and leadership coaching to interviews and feedback sessions — giving users structured practice rather than automated substitutes.
Founded in 2021 by Varun Puri, a former Google X engineer and special-projects lead for Sergey Brin, and former Apple engineer Esha Joshi, Yoodli was originally created to help people get better at public speaking. User behaviour quickly revealed broader demand: interview prep, performance conversations, partner enablement, coaching, and more. As a result, Yoodli shifted toward enterprise learning and now supports complex training workflows for go-to-market teams and leadership development.
Advertisement
Human In The Loop, By Design
Puri says the platform is intentionally built to complement human coaching, not replace it.
“AI can get you from zero to eight or nine,” he explains. “But the authenticity and nuance that define real communication still come from humans. That feedback layer will always matter.”
Yoodli’s system runs on multiple large language models, including Google Gemini and OpenAI GPT, and can be embedded directly into enterprise workflows or accessed via browser. It supports a wide range of languages, including Japanese, Korean, French, Canadian French and several Indian languages.
Growing Enterprise Adoption
Companies such as Google, Snowflake, Databricks, RingCentral, and Sandler Sales now use Yoodli to train employees and partners at scale. Coaching firms including Franklin Covey and LHH white-label the system to match their own frameworks.
Yoodli says enterprise revenue is now the majority of its business. Between its Series A and Series B, the startup saw both the number of AI role-plays and total practice hours used on the platform rise by 50%, while annual recurring revenue grew 900% over the past year.
Investor Momentum And New Leadership
The startup wasn’t planning another raise so soon, but growing usage metrics and strong enterprise traction sparked investor interest. To support scaling, Yoodli has added several senior leaders, including former Tableau & Salesforce executive Josh Vitello as CRO, former Remitly CFO Andy Larson as CFO, and former Tableau CPO Padmashree Koneti as Chief Product Officer.
What’s Next
Yoodli’s 40-person team will use the fresh capital to expand its AI coaching engine, build deeper personalization and analytics features, and grow its presence across enterprise learning markets. International expansion is underway, with APAC identified as a key growth region alongside continued U.S. expansion.
