LAIX

LAIX (also known as 流利说 / Liulishuo) is a Chinese "AI + education" company best known for its English-learning products. Per FreeS Fund materials, co-founder Hu Zheren (胡哲人) started the company from a residential building in Hangzhou and took it public on the New York Stock Exchange, where it was described as the "first AI + education stock" . Hu served as CTO and head of adult English operations, and later moved into AI investing at a VC firm . FreeS Fund, an early investor, counted LAIX among its portfolio companies that reached public markets . The company's core proposition was using speech recognition and AI to personalize language learning at scale — for instance, substituting AI-powered oral practice for human tutors .