Turning language learning into global opportunity

For Helen Zipei Liu, the move from English teacher to founder of AI-powered education start-up YNova.ai reflects her belief that learning a language is about more than words.

On one level, YNova.ai, which supports 33 first languages, helps international students and other non-native English speakers develop the language skills they need for competency tests such as the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). But it goes further, using AI to help learners build the confidence and intercultural competence they need to immerse themselves in a new culture and make social connections.

“People assume being a language tutor is just about translating. No. You have to be fluent in both languages, you need to know the context of both languages and you need to support the learner as they learn to think proficiently in a new language,” says Zipei Liu, who’s almost finished her PhD.

Her own English fluency came through her English-speaking mother, who began teaching her the language when she was three. Recognising the advantage this gave her, Zipei Liu developed a passion for helping others gain a comprehensive knowledge of English to help them access international opportunities.

YNova.ai’s approach differs from many language-learning platforms. Rather than prescribing the same preset content to every learner, it allows students to develop ideas in their first language, English or a mix of languages.

The platform then uses AI to scaffold the learning process, providing vocabulary and sentence structures that help learners express themselves more naturally on topics they are personally connected to, rather than memorising rote statements.

That connection was something Zipei Liu realised was key to successful language learning during her years teaching English as a second language in China. She saw students achieve high scores in English proficiency tests but still struggle to communicate with people from different cultural backgrounds.

Research into ways to bridge that gap became the focus of her PhD at the University. Her research, Designing a VR-Based Serious Game for EFL Children to Enhance Intercultural Communicative Competence, led Zipei Liu to connect with the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) through the Research to Innovation Hatchery programme and, later, the Venture Lab start-up incubator.

She went on to create a winning entry for the Velocity start-up planning competition and took part in CIE’s Vanguard Entrepreneurial Leaders Expedition to Silicon Valley in 2025.

Although the virtual reality project is now on hold, it provided an important lesson.

“It was a product in search of an audience, which is a hard way to start a company.”

The support and mentoring Zipei Liu received through CIE helped her explore how her language research could instead become YNova. One of the most valuable pieces of advice she received from mentor Andrew Steele as she prepared to launch wasto “build a team.”

Zipei Liu took his advice, turning to one of her closest friends, Bonnie Xuehua Fu, who is now YNova.ai’s co-founder and Chief Product Officer. Recognising that they needed more technical expertise, they also brought in Tamil Selvan Gunasekaran as co-founder and Chief Technical Officer.

Their combined expertise spans language teaching and acquisition, learning science, product design, AI and machine learning. But some of the most important lessons Zipei Liu has taken from her CIE experiences are to recognise what she does not know, be willing to put her ego aside and pivot, and, crucially, not let uncertainty stop her from moving forward.  

“The further I go on this journey, the more I realise you can’t only do things you feel 100 percent confident in. I’m now always doing things I feel only about 60 percent confident in, but you always learn something.

At the moment I feel like I’m growing as a human being and growing the start-up every day. It’s fast but so fulfilling.”

Letting go of the fear of failure and the need to make every move perfectly was reinforced during the University’s Vanguard trip to San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

“The energy there is incredible. Everyone is just so passionate about their idea and they just get it done. There’s an expectation that everyone has to have failed at least once. That’s how you learn.

“Failure is not a ‘no’, it’s just a ‘not yet’.”

Having bootstrapped its growth to date, YNova.ai is now considering an early pre-seed funding round as it explores opportunities with international schools and language institutions offshore. The team’s confidence and appetite for growth follow several early paid pilots with local language schools.

Before then, YNova.ai has been selected to take part in the 2026 TechCrunch Start-up Battlefield 200, being held this month in San Francisco. It is one of eight edtech companies in a global cohort of 200 early-stage start-ups, giving the small team an opportunity to connect with potential customers and investors and gather more feedback on its language-learning platform.

“There’ll be about 10,000 visitors and 10 percent of those will be investors. We have a free booth for the three-day trade show, so I’m really looking forward to the conversations, the opportunities and the chance to see more people’s response to our idea.”