Education

Edwin

Website

It combines the latest adaptive learning and Natural Language Understanding technology with pedagogical content as well as on-demand human instructors to offer its students affordable, personalized, 1:1 learning. Based in San Francisco, the company was funded by General Catalyst, Y Combinator, Google Assistant Investments Program, and several other

Founded 2017Origin source ↗Checked 2026-09-15

Overview

It combines the latest adaptive learning and Natural Language Understanding technology with pedagogical content as well as on-demand human instructors to offer its students affordable, personalized, 1:1 learning. Based in San Francisco, the company was funded by General Catalyst, Y Combinator, Google Assistant Investments Program, and several other investors. Over 800 thousand students have improved their English with Edwin.

In early 2020 Edwin merged with MyBuddy.ai. The resulting company kept the name “Buddy.ai”. Headquartered in San Francisco, it focuses on building a virtual English conversation partner for over 500 million children around the globe who are trying to learn English, but can't reach fluency because they lack genuine practice speaking the language. The company doubled down on its mobile app Buddy, the voice-based English tutor for kids, organically combining solutions developed by Buddy.ai and Edwin.

Company description As recorded 2026-11-08
EducationCopilot & assistantConsumersConsumerSubscription

Founders & team

Previously Edwin.ai

Company history As recorded 2026-11-08

Dmitry Stavisky

Founder/CEO

I've built two unicorns as a member of their founding teams and led teams at companies like Edwin/Buddy.ai (YC W18), Evernote, Lingualeo, and SightPath/Cisco. Earlier - I wrote lots of code for several Boston-based startups, built numerical climate models, and did field studies of Arctic and mountain glacial climates. I also advise startup founders leveraging my experience from two CEO postings, three exits, and multiple product launches. More at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dstavisky

LinkedIn X
Founder profile As recorded 2026-09-15

Dmitry Alekseev

Founder

Dmitry is a well-rounded product leader focused on platforms and applied AI/ML in personalization and automation.

LinkedIn
Founder profile As recorded 2026-09-15
14team members reported
Source-reported As recorded 2026-09-15

Founded 2017 · Source

News & product activity

Sources & observations

Y Combinator

Profile depthverified profile
Website observationwebsite unreachable
Last website check2026-11-11
Location · source statedSan Francisco, CA, USA; Remote
Pricing evidenceNo pricing page confirmed
Maturity: Not assessed · 3 of 6 areas documented

Source-based assessment · automated evidence rules

The source reports an inactive or acquired company; current product identity needs review.

Maturity is an evidence-based assessment, not a success rating. It may understate the current stage where evidence is limited. Coverage records documented areas, not a complete or independently audited company history.

Stage definitions
independent websitesource corroborationdescriptive evidenceclassified market and modelsourced peoplesourced founding year
startup.observe Directory coverage · Sources & method