A pre-seed funding round led by Malpani Ventures and including participation from multiple angel investors has raised $500K for the speech therapy startup Iyaso.
Iyaso stated in a press release that the money raised would be utilized to create cutting-edge, new AI-powered digital therapies that would revolutionize the way speech and communication impairments are addressed globally.
Viraj Kulkarni founded the AI-powered platform Iyaso in 2023 with the goal of providing speech therapy solutions. Through speech therapy, it seeks to assist users in overcoming stuttering. It also offers a guided program to improve fluency and cultivate a positive outlook on speaking. By using AI, the platform hopes to make speech therapy more accessible, interesting, and successful than it has ever been.
Over 400 million people worldwide suffer from speech and language disorders, which have a direct effect on their social interactions, careers, and academic performance, according to market research.
The Pune-based business claims to have created individualized and structured interventions to assist users in learning, practicing, and using speech therapy methods in practical settings.
Since its July 2024 launch, Iyaso claims that more than 20,000 users in more than 150 countries have used its first product, Eloquent for Stuttering. Eloquent uses AI-powered exercises and realistic practice simulations to help stutterers become more confident and fluent. More than 75% of participants move to a lower stuttering severity category after using it, according to early validation studies, which also show a 34% improvement in communication confidence and a 53% reduction in stuttering severity.
