Duolingo is a company that offers certification and language courses.
Business model
Duolingo originally started by selling crowd-sourced translations [1], and later around 14 October 2013 entered into agreements to translate articles for companies such as CNN and BuzzFeed[2]. Eventually they decided to move away from this model, and launched a new application called Duolingo Test Center[3]. This multi-platform application offers certification.
History
The company was launched in Pittsburgh by Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker[4]. Antonio Navas, Vicki Cheung, Marcel Uekermann, Brendan Meeder, Hector Villafuerte, and Jose Fuentes also joined the company at an unspecified time.
Funding
The project has been sponsored by several institutions. The funding came from a National Science Foundation grant[5], Union Square Ventures, Ashton Kutcher's firm A-Grade Investments, and Google[6].
References
- ↑ The Cleverest Business Model in Online Education
- ↑ http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2013/11/13/language-app-duolingo-to-translate-more-sites-after-buzzfeed-and-cnn/#652c56247ff1
- ↑ https://techcrunch.com/2014/07/23/duolingo-launches-its-language-certification-program/
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/aug/27/luis-von-ahn-ceo-duolingo-interview
- ↑ What language is Duolingo written in? - Quora
- ↑ https://techcrunch.com/2015/06/10/duolingo-raises-45-million-series-d-round-led-by-google-ventures-now-valued-at-470m/