Babbel, the popular online language learning service based in Berlin, announced today that it has sold a total of 10 million subscriptions to its service. For a language learning service, that's a pretty substantial number, especially considering Babbel it doesn't actually offer a free tier. In part, the company's march to 10 million subscriptions was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but Babbel had seen an acceleration of growth before, largely thanks to its aggressive expansion into the United States, where Babbel's the volume of subscribers and revenues have tripled from year to year.
The fact that growth accelerated during the pandemic actually came as a surprise to the team. Generally, at least in the United States, the demand for language learning is somewhat seasonal and users are often motivated to learn a new language because, for example, they are preparing a great trip to Europe.
"We know that in the US, we usually find the number one motivation our users give for why they would like to learn a language is travel, which of course makes sense, because this is your chance to use the language." Babbel US CEO Julie Hansen Tell me. "And indeed, last year, there were record trips from the United States to Europe. [...] I was very, very concerned about the prospects for our business, not to mention the prospects for our national health. "
But with a bit of a delay, after the lockdowns began in the US (and around the world), Babbel noticed an increase in interest in her service because people wanted to use this time for self-improvement. At the same time, Babbel, like so many other education-related services, has also launched free levels for high school and college students. Hansen said the company has seen at least "a couple of hundred thousand" downloads from those initiatives alone. With that, the company's user base is now also a bit younger (although Hansen has also credited the company's advertising on social media and specifically TikTok for it).
"You can literally chart a country with the closing date of the schools, the closing date - and then maybe a day or two before the first two Netflix series pass - and then language learning has picked up pretty quickly," Babbel CEO Arne Schepker She said.
One area that has been challenging is B2B sales, where Babbel (and its competitors) have seen an immediate slowdown, but as Hansen noted, some companies have also begun to devote more to digital training for their employees, perhaps in part. because they have replaced in-person lessons with tools like Babbel. Yet despite the general slowdown, Babbel still doubled its B2B revenue year-over-year and recently signed with its colleague Berlin Delivery Hero-based company as one of its customers.
Ahead of the pandemic, Babbel also began investing in its language travel business after acquiring LingoVentura in 2018. And while the team believes this business will pick up over time, Schebker acknowledged that no one is traveling right now, so this business it is currently in a sealing scheme.
Looking ahead, the company will soon launch what Hensen calls "other learning methods", but the team is not ready to talk about it yet, but beyond the fact that Babbel intends to embrace "a multitude of learning experiences" to meet. the students where we are.
