SoapBox Labs

Founded in 2013 by Dr. Patricia Scanlon, SoapBox Labs develops automatic speech recognition (ASR) for children aged 2-12. The company’s voice technology solutions are used by entertainment and education clients globally and have been applied in smart toys, games, robots, reading practice and assessments, dyslexia screenings, speech therapies, and language learning services. SoapBox has two core offerings: SoapBox Educate (solutions to voice-enable EdTech products for literacy and language learning assessment, dyslexia screening, and speech therapy), and SoapBox Play (solutions to voice-enable games, toys, and entertainment applications for the home and consumer markets).

SoapBox asserts that voice technology developed using adult voices—such as Siri and Google—does not work for children, so the company’s proprietary technology instead models children’s voices, language, and behaviors, adapting to global accents and dialects. SoapBox’s clients include Amplify, Lingumi, and the Florida Center for Reading Research.

In May 2021, SoapBox launched new features including Voice Activity Detection (VAD) which activates voice technology automatically when a child starts to speak, and Custom Wakewords that allow a child to activate a dormant device using a custom word or phrase.

In March 2021, the company announced plans to expand beyond its home market of Ireland into the US in response to increasing demand for the company’s child-specific voice technology within the growing global education technology market. 

In November 2023, the company was acquired by Curriculum Associates, a comprehensive curriculum provider, to expedite the integration of voice AI in classrooms, enhancing teaching and learning outcomes for Grades K-12 in literacy and math.

Key customers and partnerships

In August 2020, SoapBox partnered with Amplify, a US EdTech company that serves 5 million students, to incorporate its voice technology in Text Reading Online, Amplify’s new voice-enabled reading assessment for grades 1-6. In April 2022, the company partnered with Imagine Learning, an online curriculums and solutions provider, to launch a literacy programme for children aged 4-12. More recently, in November 2022, the company partnered with Early Bird Education, a literacy assessments developer, to identify and treat children with dyslexia. With the use of Soapbox's speech recognition AI, EarlyBird's dyslexia screener will be improved to better assess a child's oral language development and identify any possible reading difficulties even before they arise.

Funding and financials

SoapBox Labs’ last funding round was an April 2020 Series A that raised USD 6.5 million to continue the development of its technology.