Online learning platform, Preply, (https://preply.com/) today announces an 
additional USD $10 million of funding, doubling the total raised in its' 
previous rounds.  The funding will be invested to grow the Preply network of 
10,000 verified tutors teaching 50 languages to tens of thousands of students 
in 190 countries worldwide. The round was led by London-based Hoxton Ventures, 
with participation from European investors Point Nine Capital, All Iron 
Ventures, The Family, EduCapital, and Diligent Capital. A number of individual 
angel investors also participated including Arthur Kosten of Booking.com; Gary 
Swart, former CEO of Upwork; David Helgason, Founder of Unity technologies; and 
Daniel Hoffer, Founder of Couchsurfing. 

As life goes virtual for people all over the world, teachers and students 
globally have flocked to online language learning. The company witnessed a 
record number of daily hours booked on the platform this week.  The number of 
tutors registering on Preply has rocketed in regions such as the U.S., U.K., 
Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Over the past seven days, some countries have 
seen the number of tutor registrations triple, compared to the same period in 
February, and the number of hours students are booking on the platform has 
doubled in many parts of the globe. 

Preply was founded in 2013 by the Ukrainian-based team of Kirill Bigai (CEO), 
Serge Lukyanov (Head of Design) and Dmytro Voloshyn (CTO). The company now 
employs 125 staff of 25 nationalities in Kyiv and Barcelona with revenues 
having grown tenfold in the last three years. Preply's pioneering innovation 
was to use machine-learning to increase the efficiency of pairing tutors with 
learners, wherever they are in the world, making smarter connections and 
cracking the code of effective language learning. 

To date, two million classes have been taken with teachers of 160 
nationalities.  The vast majority of learners are using Preply for professional 
purposes such as moving abroad or to advance their careers.  Others are using 
it recreationally - helping their child learn a new language, for example, or 
indulging a passion to master a new skill.  Through Preply, the unparalleled 
global supply of tutors means that if you're in Berlin, for example, and want 
to learn Japanese, you can easily find a language expert at a time and price 
point that's convenient for you. This solves the 'rush hour challenge' that 
occurs with live teaching; most learners prefer taking classes before or after 
work which means that there are limited number of slots or tutors available.  

The average price of a lesson on Preply is $15 to $20 per hour. For tutors, 
Preply has provided a uniquely flexible and secure way to generate income while 
no longer being limited by locale.  With no need to host students at home, or 
waste time travelling, tutors can operate at maximum efficiency from anywhere 
in the world. 

As education moves increasingly online, many of our tutors report having honed 
a new suite of skills, including relying less on body language and adjusting 
fully to making a human connection online, rather than in-person.  From a 
payment perspective, one definitive advantage of the platform for tutors is 
that they are always paid straight after the lesson, never having to waste time 
chasing payment or risk not being paid at all. Students enter their bank 
account details when they register and tutors can take money out of their 
Preply account at any time. All earnings are broken down in a comprehensive 
personal performance dashboard so tutors can analyse their business in a 
meaningful way.  

Using the new funding, the company plans to scale the marketplace, mainly in 
North America, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK. There are plans to 
roll out an array of new tools, assessments and homework. Using Preply's wealth 
of data-learnings, tutors will be able to smart-track progress and help 
learners achieve their goals most quickly and comprehensively. Preply wants to 
engage and enable tutors to develop alongside the platform, giving them the 
opportunity to explore training and lessons plans so they can streamline their 
income and maximize their classes. The new funding will also give Preply the 
opportunity to develop its mobile offering, streamlining the Android and iOS 
app to make it more efficient and user-friendly. In addition, the company aims 
to deepen roots in the U.S. and open an American office by the end of the year. 
Preply's European genesis and global tutor supply plays a significant role in 
its ability to compete in this strategic region. 

Kirill Bigai, CEO of Preply, comments on the company's ambitions, "The new 
funding allows us to bring a more in-depth, immersive and convenient experience 
to both tutors and learners all over the world.  Today, we are laser focused on 
language learning, but ultimately, I envision a future where anyone can learn 
anything using Preply."

Rob Kniaz of Hoxton Ventures, comments "Getting to know Kirill and the team at 
Preply we were most impressed with their tremendous growth already in the US 
market as well as the size of the global market in online language tutoring. We 
believe the team has vast opportunity ahead of it, especially in the 
English-learning segment of the market where Preply already demonstrates market 
leadership."

All images and logos can be found here: 
(https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HPBs334Ely56p33d_r1ZLMPRIaXDtWj0).
 
Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1138656/Preply_Founders.jpg 
Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1138657/preply_Logo.jpg

SOURCE: Preply