Foreign language learning service Preply has raised an additional $70 million in a Series C round, bringing the total amount to $120 million, the startup’s press service reports.
One of the largest Ukrainian EdTech startups was founded by Kyiv residents Kyrylo Bihay, Serhiy Lukianov, and Dmytro Voloshyn in 2013. Preply currently has offices in Ukraine, the United States, and Spain. Since July 2022, the team has grown by 20% – the startup currently has 500 employees in 30 countries in Europe, the United States, Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
At the same time, Preply raised $50 million in investment. The round was led by the American fund Owl Ventures, one of the world’s largest venture capitalists with a focus on EdTech startups, Forbes Ukraine reports.
In early March 2022, the startup announced that it was disconnecting Russian tutors from the platform due to Russia’s full-scale invasion. The company refused to disclose the number of blocked tutors and the share of lost revenue. Currently, 35,000 tutors work on the platform. This is 3,000 more than when the previous round was announced in July 2022.
The $70 million Series C round was led by Horizon Capital, a US-Ukrainian investment company, with participation from Reach Capital, Hoxton Ventures, and investors who participated in the previous financing. The total amount of funds raised in this round is over $120 million.
The parties did not disclose the current valuation of the company. According to Dealroom, as of April 2022, Preply was valued at $255 million.
The company plans to spend $70 million to integrate artificial intelligence into the work of tutors on the platform, says Preply CEO Kirill Bigai. Preply has already launched an AI assistant to help tutors create tasks, explain grammar, etc.
Students from over 156 countries use Preply. The startup has the largest number of students in the US, Germany, Poland, the UK, and Canada.
