Former Head of LEGO Ventures Joins Fast-Growing Developer of Speech Recognition Technology for Kids

Jamie Beaumont appointed COO of Dublin-based speech recognition specialists, SoapBox Labs, reflecting the growing market demand for voice-enabled digital experiences for children.

DUBLIN, Sept. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SoapBox Labs, pioneering developer of safe, secure, and accurate speech recognition technology for children, today announced the appointment of Jamie Beaumont as Chief Operations Officer. Beaumont, who previously served as Managing Director for LEGO Ventures, will lead operations, scaling, and strategic partnerships as the company builds on its established role in the K-12 education market and expands into the entertainment market.

"Since 2013, we have been building the high performance speech recognition kids need and deserve. Jamie's expertise will be invaluable as we now move to capitalize on the accelerated demand for more joyful and frictionless voice experiences for kids of all accents and ages in the home and the classroom," said Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Martyn Farrows.

An alumnus of Oxford University, Beaumont joins SoapBox Labs from his most recent role as Interim Head and Managing Director of LEGO Ventures, the venture capital arm of the LEGO® brand, where he developed and implemented the company's investment strategy for the future of learning, creativity, and play. During his time at LEGO Ventures, Beaumont worked closely with entrepreneurs and startups developing experiences and platforms for playful learning. He also brings to SoapBox 10 years of operating and scaling experience at C-level, and a deep knowledge of both the education and play spaces.

"SoapBox is reimagining how kids experience technology and their award-winning speech recognition is step one on that journey. I'm thrilled to be joining the company at this milestone moment where I see not only the capacity for real growth, but for real impact through the magical digital experiences we can deliver for kids."

SoapBox Labs recently announced significant new investments in each of its core offerings: "SoapBox Educate" for its existing K-12 school and classroom-focused market, and "SoapBox Play" for consumer-facing toys, games, and home applications.

Established in 2013, SoapBox Labs was named one of Europe's hottest start-ups by Wired magazine in 2019. Founder Dr. Patricia Scanlon has been named one of the top 50 women in tech globally by Forbes and a top "Visionary in Voice" by Voicebot in 2020.  In addition to expanding its market focus, the company named a new Chief Executive Officer earlier this year and announced a plan to double its staff in the coming two years.

About SoapBox Labs
SoapBox Labs delivers immersive, frictionless, digital experiences for kids of every age and accent. Our speech technology is proprietary, low-code and built from the ground up to cater specifically to kids' unpredictable speech patterns and behaviors. SoapBox is a privacy-first company. We will never reuse or sell our clients' voice data for marketing or advertising purposes.

SoapBox licenses its specialist technology to third party education and entertainment companies. We offer two solution suites:

• SoapBox Educate for instruction, practice, screening, intervention, and assessment of literacy, math and language learning.
• SoapBox Play for games, toys, apps and entertainment applications for the home and consumer markets.

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