NTT Investment Partners and EnglishCentral have formed an alliance to further online English language training in Japan. The partnership also means a $1 million dollar investment from NTT Partners into the cloud-based ESL platform.
EnglishCentral users watch and interact with online videos and receive feedback based on their performance. The NTT Group’s primary business is as as broadband video carrier and it plans on taking advantage of its latest partnership to expand its Virtual English service, which is a prepackaged language training program for NTT’s broadband customers.
NTT Executive manager Yasuhiro Mitake explained the EnglishCentral alliance and investment thus, “We think the service is a great way for NTT Learning’s customers to have fun practicing their spoken English with content they find engaging in the privacy of their own home.”
Previous to this partnership and funding, the Massachusetts-based EnglishCentral had received $3.48 million in financing led by Google Ventures and Atlas Venture.
