Yoodli Triples Valuation Over $300M With Assistive AI

Yoodli, a communication training startup from former Google and Apple engineers, has surpassed a valuation of more than $300 million after closing on a $40 million Series B. The company’s pitch is intentionally contrarian in today’s automation-obsessed cycle: AI for helping people practice and get better, not AI that takes over their jobs.

Funding and Valuation: Series B Round and Context

WestBridge Capital led the new round, with participation from Neotribe and Madrona, and it brings Yoodli’s overall financing to almost $60 million. It comes only months after Yoodli’s $13.7 million Series A and underscores investor interest in AI systems that can augment human performance in customer-facing and leadership positions.

Leadership also says that the boost in valuation was due to enterprise traction as well as an expansion of the leadership bench: former Tableau and Salesforce executive Josh Vitello came on as CRO; former Remitly CFO Andy Larson joined as CFO; and former Tableau CPO Padmashree Koneti became chief product officer. The 40-person company, based in Seattle, will invest in AI coaching, analytics, and personalization as it expands in the U.S. and into Asia Pacific.

Assistive AI, Not Automation: Coaching Over Replacement

Co-founder Varun Puri spent time at Google’s X and on special projects for Sergey Brin, and built Yoodli with co-founder and former Apple engineer Esha Joshi to solve a problem he experienced firsthand: talented people under-communicating ideas simply because they did not have a safe, repeatable way to practice doing so.

Yoodli simulates real-life situations—sales calls, leadership conversations, interviews, and giving feedback—and provides structured drills, coaching prompts, and quantitative goals.

The design still keeps actual humans in the loop. Coaching companies like Franklin Covey and LHH can bake in their own methodologies, and businesses can direct employees to living mentors for the nuance AI will miss. This philosophy reflects how many companies are taking on generative AI: as a force multiplier, not an exchange of headcount. McKinsey’s 2024 research, however, found that usage of genAI inside companies had increased to 65%, though leaders continued to signal trust, quality, and skills are critical ROI determinants.

Product and Technology: Models, Languages, Integration

Yoodli is based on a variety of large language models, and customers can use systems like Google’s Gemini or OpenAI’s GPT to give enterprises choice on cost, performance, and data governance. The web-based tool can be embedded within an existing application or run in a browser. It supports major languages such as Korean, Japanese, French, Canadian French, and other Indian languages. Importantly, the group bypassed a standalone mobile app to minimize friction when practicing.

Stuff that goes beyond transcripts includes coaching signals: talk-listen ratios, pacing, clarity, filler words, and question quality. A sales rep can rehearse for objection handling; a manager can practice for a challenging performance conversation; a graduate can prepare for a panel interview. The result: deep learning by doing rather than simply digesting content—a pattern grounded in the science of learning and reflected in broad enterprise adoption of AI tutors across disciplines.

Enterprise Traction and Key Metrics From Recent Growth

Yoodli’s customers include Google, Snowflake, Databricks, RingCentral, and Sandler Sales. Enterprise contracts now drive most revenue. In between its A and B rounds, it claims a 50% increase in both role-plays completed and total practice time, and average recurring revenue over the last year has seen an astronomical 900% leap—although it did not reveal those last numbers.

With the enablement market teeming with entrants, Yoodli separates from those offering call-analytics tools like Gong or Chorus that focus on diagnosis after the fact. That “practice-first” wedge makes Yoodli a supplement rather than a replacement to the rest of the sales, customer success, and leadership stack.

Why This Bet Makes Sense Now for Skills and Productivity

Communication is a top skill in every job, even as automation proliferates. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs findings, analytical thinking, creative thinking, and leadership communication are among the most enduring. In the meantime, U.S. companies pour well over $100 billion a year into training (according to Training magazine), and the International Coaching Federation estimates that the coaching industry pulls in billions a year worldwide. That spend is being allocated to personalization at scale, with sensitivity to the human element.

“Yoodli speaks to the practical constraints of being a risk-aware business (a mix of model choice, language coverage, and embeddability) because, ultimately, they need to be sensitive to cost control, security, and measurability.” The fact that the company is focused on augmentation also skirts internal pushback that often greets automation-heavy rollouts.

What Comes Next: Roadmap for Coaching, Analytics, GTM

With new money, Yoodli will continue to invest in real-time coaching and analytics; increase personalization; and grow its go-to-market.

Look for increased connection to sales and leadership results—decreased ramp time, increased win rates, improved 360-degree feedback—as buyers demand tangible ROI on investments in AI.

The bigger sign: not every AI breakthrough story is about replacement. Yoodli’s rise indicates that there is a thesis to be made about teaching people to communicate better—with AI as sparring partner, not replacement—and one in which customers and investors are willing to invest.