Our Story
Speechsquare is made up of Educators, Creatives, Day Dreamers, Nerds, and Geeks ...
Speechsquare was born from Melyngo, an online language learning platform, founded in 2019 by Ben & Yun. After identifying that in Southeast Asia less than 25% of class time is spent on oral skills, and that class sizes are 43% higher than the rest of the world, Ben got to work on our first AI speech recognition and analysis system.
The basic AI was already ahead of the main online language learning platforms, as it would give feedback other than binary pass or fail answers.
In comes Dirk...
In a chance meeting at a networking session in Singapore, Ben met Dirk, who has over 20 years of experience working in the higher education industry. After explaining Melyngo to Dirk, he immediately thought of singling out the AI tool from the language courses. From this, Speechsquare was born on May 10, 2022.
Our AI now supports 7 Languages and delivers the most sophisticated feedback on the market, highlighting issues in speech down to the syllable, and sometimes further!
The platform allows educators to use the AI with ease, through an advanced AI chatbot called Dot, which can generate content for teacher assessments in seconds from a few basic prompts.
Through the platform and by offering a wider language set, it is our aim to increase access to this new technology for general use, without the need to understand APIs or advanced web development.
Our People
We don't believe in pushy sales techniques or doing anything for a dollar. Our main motivation is to solve real-world issues that limit access to education and create solutions that increase social mobility.
Ben Roberts
Founder & CEO
Ben is an EdTech entrepreneur and coder with a strong personal commitment to creating technological solutions which increase access to education and ultimately social mobility.
Having previously built a start-up that allowed university students to gain paid work experience before graduating and seeing its successful exit, he is now dedicated to Speechsquare.
Ben holds a BA (Hons) in International Business Management from the University of Wolverhampton. He started his career as an IT Professional Practitioner at Capgemini. Ben has extensive experience in business development, marketing, and IT from working in the UK, France, China, Thailand, Malaysia & Singapore.
Dirk Hopfl
Co-Founder & COO
Dirk is passionate about the education industry and considers himself a life-long learner. He continuously explores how to improve technology-supported processes.
With 20+ years of experience in the higher education industry and having worked for one of the most progressive, global top-tier higher education institutions, IE Business School, Dirk oversees the strategic operation and development of Speechsquare.
Dirk holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration with a double major in Finance and HR from the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. He pursued an MBA and an Advanced Management Program at IE Business School, Spain. Most recently, Dirk completed a micro-MBA in EdTech and Higher Education Leadership from ConnectED, Australia.
Yunqian Zhou
CFO
Data-Driven Freak
Yun is a qualified accounting professional with over 10 years of internal and external audit experience in various industries, possessing strong abilities in, data analytics, accounting, internal controls, and financial reporting.
After graduating with honors from the University of Nottingham with a degree in Finance, Accounting, and Management, Yun not only manages the financial aspects of Speechsquare, but also ensures we maintain a data-driven business.
Yunqian Zhou
CFO
Data Driven Freak
Max Chong
Lead Technologist
Lord Of The Nerds
Dan Heston
Linguist/Learning Consultant
Lingo Lover
Eunice Ng
Office
Assistant
Caifornia Dreamin' At My Desk
Max Chong
Lead Technologist
Lord Of The Nerds
Max is a qualified IT Infrastructure Engineer, with over 10 years of experience and a multitude of IT industry-related certificates. With a Degree in Computer Science from the University of Wolverhampton, fluent in Cantonese and Bristolian, Max ensures our IT infrastructure can scale on demand and consults on platform development.
Dan Heston
Linguist / Learning Consultant
Lingo Lover
Dan is a born linguist, fluently speaking English, German, and French and proficient in Spanish and Mandarin. Dan graduated with a BA (Hons) in Linguistics from the University of York. He is Speechsquare's lead learning consultant, working with our network of over 20+ linguists who ensure we deliver the best possible product in each language offered.
Eunice Ng
Assistant
California Dreamin' At My Desk
Eunice is the lifeline of Speechsquare operations, managing the complexities of remote working team members and ensuring we maintain an organized unit. Eunice has recently completed a degree in Business Administration from Singapore Polytechnic and is interested in the Tech start-up scene.
Want to get involved?Get in touch!
If you want to be part of a team that creates real, impactful change, we would love to chat!
