Duolingo, the world’s most popular language-learning platform, is now valued at $1.5 billion after closing $30M in Series F funding

With over 300 million users worldwide, Duolingo is currently the most popular language-learning platform and the most downloaded education app worldwide. Today, the edtech startup announced it has closed a $30 million Series F funding round for continued investment into the research and development of its products, as well as to accelerate the growth and expansion of the Duolingo team.

The round, which came from CapitalG, Alphabet’s growth equity investment fund and one other existing investor, brings Duolingo’s total funding to $138 million. It also makes it Pittsburgh’s first tech startup to achieve a valuation of more than $1 billion and a member of unicorn startups club.

Founded in 2011 by Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker, Duolingo’s mission is to make language education free and accessible to all. Its platform is free, designed to feel like a game and scientifically proven to be effective. Duolingo offers 91 total courses across over 30 distinct languages, and is available on iOS, Android, and Web. Valued at $1.5 billion, the company has raised more than $138 million in venture capital from investors including CapitalG, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, Union Square Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Drive Capital, Ashton Kutcher, and Tim Ferriss.

“Duolingo has been adding users and revenue at an impressive pace, continuing to solidify their position as the #1 way to learn a language globally,” said Laela Sturdy, General Partner at CapitalG. “The team has demonstrated that sticking to their mission of providing free education is not only good for the world, but it’s also good for business. We are thrilled to continue to support them in this next stage of growth.”

CapitalG, formerly Google Capital, is the late-stage growth venture capital fund financed by Alphabet Inc., and is based in San Francisco, CA. Founded in 2013, it focuses on growth stage technology companies, helping them scale with support from Google’s vast expertise and resources.

With 30 million monthly active learners, Duolingo is the most downloaded education app in the world and has grown organically through word of mouth. Since its last funding round in July 2017, the company has grown revenue via its paid subscription offering, Duolingo Plus, and is now also the top-grossing education app worldwide. Duolingo Plus removes ads and provides additional features, while all educational content on Duolingo continues to be free.

“We started Duolingo with the mission of making education free and accessible to everybody, and I’m very proud that we’ve now also built a strong business,” said Luis von Ahn, CEO and co-founder of Duolingo. “CapitalG has been a valuable partner to Duolingo over the past few years, and we look forward to using this investment to continue our growth and further solidify our position as the most widely used and top-grossing language-learning app worldwide.”