Venture capital drives language learning apps

06/03/2014
Diego Gutiérrez
Venture capital drives language learning apps

 

Among the companies for learning languages through apps, 5 stand out as having received several rounds of funding and topping the app store charts.

 

 

Venture capital investees

Among the companies for learning languages through applications are the following DuolingoBabbelMindSnacksMemrise and Bosuu.

Duolingo, awarded best iPhone app by Apple, is the leader in language learning apps. It raised its third round of funding of $20M this past February 2014 from the hand of Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Union Square Ventures.

Babbel , which in 2013 launched 11 apps for windows 8, received a $10M round from Reed Elsevier VenturesNokia Growth Partners and Kizoo Technologies ventures.

"Babbel last year bought Playsay, a social language learning application for Iphone that incorporates real conversations and pronunciation assessment" says Diego Gutierrez, alternative finance expert of the group. Abra Invest.

MindSnacks, last 2012, raised a $6.5M round of Felicis Ventures, Eniac Ventures, Sequoia capital and Lever Ventures.

Memorise has raised 4 rounds of funding since 2010, when it was created. The last one of 6.2 M, led by Avalon VenturesBalderton Capitaland Theoria Capital.

Busuuwhich managed to reach 20 million downloads in 2013 received a series A round of $4.7M in 2012, in which it participated. Profounders Capital. Busuu has gained a lot of popularity in the last year and has even surpassed leading companies such as Memrise and Mindsnacks.      

Shopping in the sector: Rosetta Stones     

There have also been a number of acquisitions in the sector. Rosetta StonesThe language learning platform, has managed to position itself second in the ranking of apps, after Duolingo, thanks to the numerous purchases made in 2013, which has positioned it as one of the most active investors in the ICT education sector. Last year, it bought Vivity Labs for M12$, Tell me more for $28M , Lexia learning system for $22.5M and Livemocha.

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