Announcing our $13.7M Fundraise and Launching the AI Roleplays Category

Launching the AI Roleplays Category

We’re excited to announce a new category: AI Roleplays—an experiential learning platform that allows individuals and teams to master real-world conversations through lifelike simulations powered by generative AI. Whether it’s a sales pitch, a manager feedback session, or a media interview, Yoodli provides judgment-free, personalized, just-in-time coaching to help people get better through actual practice.

Think of it as the batting cage before the big game – but for communication. Organizations like Google, Databricks, RingCentral, Snowflake, BDO, and hundreds of others are already using Yoodli to train their employees more quickly, drive improved sales performance, and save manager time. 

Our most recent fundraise ($13.7M) will allow us to supercharge this new category and bring Yoodli to enterprises and learners worldwide. Thank you to Neotribe, our lead investor, and to Madrona and Cercano, our existing investors for your ongoing support. This brings our total raised to $20M+.

Why AI Roleplays Are the Future of Learning

Most workplace learning today relies on passive formats like slide decks and training videos that don’t build true conversational muscle memory. In contrast, AI Roleplays let you rehearse critical interactions in realistic environments, get instant feedback, and improve through repetition—just like a flight simulator for communication.

Roleplays have applications across:

• Sales and Customer Success: GTM enablement and partner training (onboarding, pitch certification, new product launches, objection handling)
  
• Learning and Development: Manager training, leadership development, performance reviews, compliance
  
• And much more: Media training, healthcare simulations, and public speaking. The possibilities are endless.

You can tailor simulations by language, persona, difficulty level, and feedback style—making learning personalized, engaging, and effective.

Our Journey: From Public Speaking to GTM Enablement

We started Yoodli to help people become more confident communicators. For Varun, it was about breaking down communications barriers as an immigrant in the US. For Esha, it was about leveling the playing field for women in the workplace.

Our AI coach began by tackling public speaking—helping users practice without the pressure of judgment. But it quickly became clear: the need for safe, realistic practice environments went far beyond stage fright. Today, we have hundreds of thousands of users who use Yoodli for everything from mock interviews and speech therapy to sales simulations, executive coaching, and VC pitches. (We even used Yoodli to prep for our own TED talk!)

What’s Next

With this funding, we will:

• Expand our team across customer success, sales, and engineering (we’re hiring)
• Deepen our AI technology to make roleplays more hyper-realistic and personalized
• Scale partnerships with coaching firms, training providers, and ecosystem partners (LMS, CRM, CMS players)

We don’t aim to replace coaches—we amplify their impact with repeatable, scalable practice and feedback. It’s why many of the world’s best coaching firms – Korn Ferry, Toastmasters, Sandler Sales, and others- are using Yoodli to quantify and reinforce their training.

A Personal Note of Thanks

We’re thrilled to welcome Neeraj Hablani from Neotribe to our board. Neeraj and Varun’s shared experience at GoogleX— where Varun ran special projects for Sergey Brin and Neeraj led driverless deployments for Waymo—makes this a full-circle moment.

To our team, customers, and early believers: thank you for shaping this journey. And to the learners preparing for that big interview, conversation, or pitch—we’re building this for you.

Try Yoodli for free at www.yoodli.ai

Want to use Yoodli for your team? Reach out at sales@yoodli.ai

Esha and Varun

Co-Founders, Yoodli