Language Learning Leader Babbel Opens Offices in the United States
January 28 2015 - 9:02AM
Business Wire
Founder to Head Company’s Expansion in New York
City
Babbel, the market-leading language learning app experiencing
100 percent revenue growth year-on-year, is now expanding, opening
its first office in the United States. Co-Founder and President of
Babbel, Inc., Thomas Holl, will head operations in New York.
Although a large number of Americans are already learning with
Babbel and account for a substantial portion of the company's total
business, this “official” entrance into the U.S. market is an
important step for the company, which was founded in 2007 in Berlin
and sees more than 1,300 users registering per hour. Babbel’s
service, the modern, inexpensive and easy way to learn 14 different
languages, was recently tailored for the U.S. market and is now
available with American English as a display language.
Additionally, Babbel is considerably expanding its marketing
efforts in the U.S. A double digit percentage of Babbel’s revenue
is already coming from the U.S. market.
“The United States holds enormous potential for Babbel, and we
expect growth in the three-digit percentile in 2015 alone,” says
Thomas Holl, co-founder and president of Babbel, Inc. “Babbel
features high-quality content developed by a team of language
professionals and offers courses specifically created for each
language. Like in Europe, this approach to language learning has
been well-received in the U.S., as indicated by the widespread
popularity of our premium app.”
In the United States, just 18 percent of the population is
bilingual, as compared to 53 percent in Europe.1 The fact that
foreign languages in the U.S. are not required in schools or in
professional life is reflected in the motivation of Babbel users:
just 5 percent say they learn a foreign language for work. By
contrast, 26 percent are motivated by cultural interest; 23 percent
are preparing for upcoming travel; and 20 percent want to keep
mentally fit. Accordingly, Babbel’s service – offering mobile,
independent language learning outside of a formal education
environment – is falling on fertile ground.
“It is our mission to revolutionize the world of learning and
establish quality standards not yet met in the industry,” adds
Babbel co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Markus Witte.
“Self-directed language learning was a privilege in the past. We’re
changing that with Babbel, and we are fueling a current ’zeitgeist’
that we observe from our users globally.”
Babbel currently offers more than 7,000 hours of learning
material in 14 languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian,
French, Brazilian Portuguese, Turkish, Polish, Indonesian, Dutch,
Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and Russian. The cloud-based content can
be accessed with a computer, smartphone, or tablet – anytime,
anywhere.
About Babbel:
Babbel’s vision, that anyone can learn languages, has driven its
success through high-quality, professionally curated courses from a
team of education experts, authors and language teachers, combined
with modern technology. The market-leading app for online learning
makes it easy for independent learners to access 14 different
languages, ranging from English to Indonesian, either from home or
on the go, with a smartphone or tablet.
Babbel is led by founders Markus Witte (Chief Executive Officer)
and Thomas Holl (President), along with Lorenz Heine (Chief
Innovation Officer) and Markus Corallo (Chief Financial Officer).
The company employs a team of more than 300 at its headquarters in
Berlin. The service is available worldwide at Babbel.com and on iOS
and Android mobile devices. Corresponding to the user's mother
tongue, Babbel offers its courses in 7 "reference languages", which
are used as the display language on the platform.
For more information, visit www.Babbel.com
1 U.S. Department of Education, “Education and the Language
Gap”
For BabbelSamson AdepojuSenior Public Relations
Managersadepoju@babbel.comTel:
347-840-1774orAudrey SahlSenior Account Manageraudrey@alpaytac.comTel: 646-561-8508