Rockstart backs Eevi's voice-first AI language tutor in pre-seed round
What's the deal? EeviDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, an Amsterdam-based voice-first AI language tutor, has raised a pre-seed round led by RockstartDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The startup is building a platform around spoken conversation, using real-time AI instead of the tap-and-swipe drills that dominate the industry.
Who's behind it? Filemon Schöffer and Jago Gazendam co-founded the company. Schöffer, the chief executive officer, previously co-founded Hubs.comDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, which Protolabs acquired in a deal valued at up to $330 million, and later served as chief commercial officer at mental health platform OpenUp.
Gazendam, the chief technology officer, leads engineering and has a background spanning education and healthtech. Eevi marks his return to the education sector.
What's the problem? Over a billion people are learning a new language, but few reach conversational fluency. Popular apps such as Duolingo make learning addictive yet run largely on recognition — tapping translations, matching pictures, and dragging tiles.
Eevi calls this the fluency illusion: you build long streaks, then freeze when someone actually speaks to you. Human tutors are the main alternative, but they cost more and have limited availability.
Why now? Schöffer began learning Japanese after selling Hubs in 2021 and found existing apps limited. Gazendam hit the same wall learning Spanish. "We thought, with everything happening in AI, why don't we take a shot at language learning?" Schöffer said.
The product: The team started work in summer 2025 and ran a six-month closed beta from January to June 2026 with about 100 advanced learners. A key lesson: reading a transcript while trying to speak was a poor experience. That prompted a rebuild around a voice-first interface — a blank canvas where Eevi adds supporting multimedia when useful, such as an audio player for listening practice.
What's the endgame? Schöffer frames the bet in stark terms. "There are hundreds of millions of people trying to learn a second language, and only a small proportion will ultimately succeed. That's an enormous waste of human energy," he said.
The signal: Eevi's raise reflects growing investor appetite for AI applications that target skills incumbents leave untaught. If real-time voice can bridge the gap between recognising a language and speaking it, edtech's dominant streak-and-drill model faces a fresh challenge.
Read more: Tech.eu
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
