Duolingo, which offers to learn foreign languages while having fun on his phone or his computer, stormed Wall Street on Wednesday, his share soaring by more than 30% just after his arrival.
Read also: The language learning app Duolingo aims for an IPO at more than USD 4 billion
Duolingo recovered $ 377 million in new money from this transaction by issuing 3.7 million securities at a price of $ 102 per unit, well above the range of $ 85 to $ 95 initially proposed. This gave it a market valuation of 3.7 billion dollars, 4.7 billion including all the shares already issued or to be issued.
This investor interest does not surprise its co-founder, Luis von Ahn.
“Our business model is very solid.
Our turnover has more than doubled each year over the past four years, ”he
told AFP.
Professor of computer science and artificial intelligence at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he founded the platform in 2011 with doctoral student Severin Hacker.
40 million users per month
Their company, which offers to learn 40 languages, is used by more than 40 million users every month. Its flagship product, the Duolingo app, has been downloaded over 500 million times. It is free in exchange for an advertisement at the end of each lesson.
"I come from a poor country, Guatemala (...), where in fact, you need to have money to access a good education,"
says Luis von Ahn.
"I wanted to offer something that would make education accessible to as many people as possible."
On a smartphone, Duolingo competes with applications like TikTok or Instagram, recalls the entrepreneur.
“We're doing our best to make the app as entertaining as possible,” he
says.
The motivations of users vary according to their geographic origin.
“In most countries people just want to learn English because it's a way to make money. In countries like the United States, it's a smart way to use your phone
,
”
says the co-founder.
“About 40% of language classes in the United States use our app, often for homework,” he
says.
Duolingo wants to continue to expand: by offering more and more games to make language learning fun, but also by offering other educational applications, starting with math and reading. In addition to the advertising shown at the end of each lesson, Duolingo earns money by offering a paid option to those who do not want to see it or want to access additional options. The group also offers an English proficiency test recognized by many universities.