language learning

What Babbel co-founder has learned over 20 years in the language learning industry

This week Becca and Dom are joined by Markus Witte, the co-founder of the language learning platform Babbel.

Google takes aim at Duolingo with new English tutoring tool

Google’s gunning for Duolingo with a new Google Search feature designed to help people practice — and improve — their English speaking skills. Rolling out over the next few days for

Promova’s new feature helps people with dyslexia learn a new language

Promova, the language learning app with more than 11 million users, today launched “Dyslexia Mode,” which uses a specialized typeface called Dysfont so people with dyslexia can learn a new languag

Babbel acquires language learning browser extension Toucan

Babbel, the popular subscription-based language learning service, today announced that it has acquired Toucan, the well-funded language learning browser extension. Toucan, it turns out, wound down as

OpenAI-backed language learning app Speak raises $16M to expand to the US

Speak, an English language learning platform backed by OpenAI’s startup investment fund, the OpenAI Startup Fund, today announced that it raised $16 million in a Series B-2 funding round led by

Preply, the language app known for its live tutors, closes out Series C at $120M and doubles down on AI

Language learning platform Preply made a name for itself for connecting students with a selection of some 35,000 tutors and group classes across some 50 languages. Now it’s looking to the future

Loora, a generative AI app that uses an audio interface to help users learn English, raises $9.25M

The jury is still out on whether AI adoption really will spell the end of humanity as we know it, but in the meantime, we continue to see a boom of AI startups and AI dealmaking. In the latest develop

Speak lands investment from OpenAI to expand its language learning platform

Speak, an English language learning platform with AI-powered features, today announced that it raised $27 million in a Series B funding round led by the OpenAI Startup Fund, with participation from La

EWA, which taps into popular media to teach languages, hits 51M downloads and 3.5M MAUs and raises its first outside funding

Online language learning continues to be a huge opportunity for startups, with the most engaging experiences meeting a surge of interest from consumers looking for more productivity out of the hours t

BoldVoice wants to help nonnative English speakers find (and flaunt) their voices

When Anada Lakra and Ilya Usorov first moved to the United States, they struggled to find their voices. They both knew and understood English, but when it came time to speak up, their accents became a

Duolingo’s bellwether IPO

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. We were a smaller team this week, with Natasha and Alex together

Duolingo can’t teach you how to speak a language, but now it wants to try

Duolingo has been wildly successful. It has pulled in 500 million total registered learners, 40 million active users, 1.5 million premium subscribers and $190 million in booked revenues in 2020. It ha

Yak Tack is a super simple app to boost vocabulary

Word nerds with a love for linguistic curiosities and novel nomenclature that’s more fulsome than their ability to make interesting new terms stick will be thrilled by Yak Tack: A neat little ai

Lingoda, an on-demand online language school with live instructors and Zoom classrooms, raises $68M

A startup out of Berlin that’s built and grown a successful online language learning platform based around live teachers and virtual classrooms is announcing some funding today to continue expan

Preply raises a $35 million Series B as demand for language learning grows

Preply, a tutoring marketplace for language learning, has raised a $35 million Series B co-led by Full In Partners and Owl Ventures, an edtech fund that has backed Byju’s and Newsela. The raise come

Fluent Forever raises $4.9M for its language learning system

Fluent Forever, a startup that uses a novel learning system to help its users master a new language faster, has raised a $4.9 million funding round led by Denver-based Stout Street Capital. Other inve

Language learning app Duolingo confirms it has raised $35M on a $2.4B valuation

Last week, we reported that popular language learning app Duolingo, with 500 million total app downloads​, was raising $35 million on a valuation of at least $2.21 billion — the latest chapter

Dictionary app Reverso launches desktop app

Language learning company Reverso is launching its desktop app for macOS and Windows. Like on mobile, it lets you access a translation dictionary and get examples in context. The company has attracted

Duolingo CEO explains language app’s surge in bookings

Language learning apps, like many educational technology platforms, soared when millions of students went home in response to safety concerns from the coronavirus pandemic. It makes sense: Everyone be

Tandem snags $5.7M for its language buddy app amid COVID-19’s e-learning boom

The Berlin-based startup behind Tandem, an app for practicing a second language, has closed a £4.5 million (~$5.7 million) Series A round of financing to capitalize on growth opportunities it’s
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