About YNova
We build the tutor we wish every IELTS student had.
YNova Limited is a New Zealand company building an AI tutor for IELTS Speaking, founded by Helen (CEO), Bonnie (CPO) and Tamil Selvan (CTO).
Why we started
The test tells you a number. It does not tell you why.
The official IELTS test returns band scores, not feedback. A learner walks out knowing they got a 6.0 in Speaking and nothing about what held them back.
A test costs roughly US$200–340 per attempt, and the IELTS partners report more than 4 million tests taken in 2023. Retaking is expensive, and most learners prepare alone, guessing what examiners want.
We built NOVA to close that gap: a tutor that listens, explains the four criteria in your own language, and is honest about what it can and cannot judge.
- What the test gives back
- Band scores, not feedback
- Cost per attempt
- Roughly US$200–340
- Tests taken in 2023
- More than 4 millionIELTS partners report
What we believe
Four principles we do not trade away
They shape every product decision, including the ones that make the app look less impressive.
Honesty over impressiveness
Every score in the app is labelled a practice estimate. NOVA never shows a band without enough evidence to support it.
The first language is a scaffold, not the destination
Hints and explanations arrive in the learner's own language. The learner sets how much, from minimal to heavy.
NOVA coaches, it never invents for you
The tutor explains, prompts and corrects. Every draft or sample answer is built from the learner's own ideas, and the recording that counts is the learner's own English.
Learners own their data
Joining a class is a consent step, any attempt can be unshared, and private chats with NOVA stay private. We do not sell personal information.
How we work
Small, close to the classroom, and in public
Built with teachers
We design with IELTS teachers and run a school pilot in New Zealand. Classroom use shapes what we build next.
Research-informed
Our bilingual scaffolding draws on translanguaging research (García & Li 2014; Cenoz & Gorter 2020). The L1 supports learning; it is never the goal.
Team
Who builds YNova
Co-founder and CEO
Helen
Helen leads the company: strategy, schools and the partnerships that put NOVA in front of learners.
Co-founder and CPO
Bonnie
Bonnie owns the product and how it teaches, from the learning design behind every session to the way NOVA speaks.
Co-founder and CTO
Tamil Selvan
Tamil builds the product end to end, from the speech pipeline to the teacher portal.
Three co-founders in Aotearoa New Zealand, with a small team around them. If you teach IELTS or research language learning and want to work with us, write to contact@ynova.ai.
Talk to the people who build it.
Questions about the tutor, a school pilot or the research behind it. We read every message.