Things are moving fast in the world of Babbel, the language learning startup out of Germany which has been scaling its international presence since we first started covering them back in 2009. Today Babbel is announcing a $10 million Series B funding round led by Reed Elsevier Ventures. Other investors include Nokia Growth Partners as well as existing investors, IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft via… → Read More
The world of language learning startups is going international. Today, Berlin-based Babbel, which creates online and mobile-based language learning courses, is buying PlaySay, a TC Disrupt finalist that focused on creating mobile apps that turned the process of learning languages into a game — modelled somewhat loosely on the back-and-forth paired-play concept of “Draw Something.” Financial terms… → Read More
Babbel, the language learning site, has added four new languages to its vocabulary portfolio: Indonesian, Polish, Turkish and Dutch. This brings the total to eleven, joining Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish and English.
Delivered via a number of themed lessons such as “Holidays”, “Life in the city”, “Free time”, “Culture” and “Digital World” each features basic and advanced… → Read More
Babbel, the language learning site, has added “realtime” speech recognition to enhance its practical application and enable users to fine-tune their pronunciation skills. This pits the service up against more traditional players such as TellMeMore or Rosetta Stone, says the company.
The speech recognition functionality was built in-house – much of the team’s background is in audio technology … → Read More
Babbel, the language learning site, has added “realtime” speech recognition to enhance its practical application and enable users to fine-tune their pronunciation skills. This pits the service up against more traditional players such as TellMeMore or Rosetta Stone, says the company.
The speech recognition functionality was built in-house – much of the team’s background is in audio technology … → Read More
[Germany] With the revelation last week that the incredibly well funded social networking service Ning was dumping its freemium model to move to a paid-for only offering, it’s perhaps a good time to re-visit European startup Babbel.
The Berlin-based language learning site took a similar decision back in November 09, announcing that its then 500,000 users would have to pay up or… you get the… → Read More
[Spain/Austria] Last week busuu.com closed their first funding round from an undisclosed Austrian serial angel investor. The total sum is also not clear, but appears to be below €500,000.
Busuu.com is a two year old, online community based language learning startup, launched out of Spain, founded by non-Spaniards, Bernhard Niesner (Austria) and Adrian Hilti (Switzerland).
Last December… → Read More
[Spain/Germany] In what looks like a classic example of old media trying to stay relevant in the social web era, PONS Publishing Group, the second biggest publisher in Germany as part of the Klett Group, has teamed up with Madrid-based startup busuu.com.
The free-to-join language learning community now comes with a ‘powered by PONS’ badge in reference to the site’s inclusion of content from the… → Read More
[Germany] The new version of Babbel, the language learning startup, is released today, but there’s a sting in the tail for the existing 500,000 users who thought it was a Freemium service: they will now all have to pay to use it.
“Babbel is now a paid service. Freemium doesn’t work for us,” confirms managing director Markus Witte. Now only the first part of any given course can be taken for… → Read More
Foreign languages are hard. There’s no shortage of expensive books and systems claiming to teach you how to gab like a native in only a few short lessons. But traditional methods don’t work for most people as well real world experience and continuous practice. A young German startup is helping language students get that practice and experience through their new language learning… → Read More
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