LinguaLeo emerged last week as the winner of the annual BIT competition, Russia’s primary innovation and entrepreneurship contest with entrants from all across the country.
LinguaLeo is a web service that teaches foreign languages using popular TV serials, books, and contextual dialogues.
Founded in 2009, the service currently teaches English, but French, Spanish, German, and Italian will follow, LinguaLeo’s CEO Aynur Abdulnasyrov said in an interview with East-West Digital News.
The company currently claims 195,000 registered users. According to Abdulnasyrov, while revenues last month amounted to just $10,000, they have been increasing by 30% from month to month.
“We started monetization just one year ago, in mid-2010,” said Abdulnasyrov. “We began with a premium model based on a virtual currency we call meatballs. Then we launched a subscription model. Most of our 1,500 paid users are subscribers. People seem to like unlimited models.”
“Tremendous demand” in Asia
With trademarks for 22 countries, LinguaLeo intends to expand internationally.
“Our first targets will be the Chinese, South Korean and Japanese markets – where we have observed a tremendous demand for learning English – as well as some West European countries,” Abdulnasyrov explained. “Particularly in Germany, there is a better environment for web services than in Russia, so we can hope for higher conversion rates there.”
On the international scene, the Russian startup will compete with such giants as English First and LiveMocha.com. “Among our competitive advantages are strong game dynamics, such as using animated avatars, which strengthens the motivation for daily learning,” said Abdulnasyrov. “Another plus is that our content is authentic, it’s made of native speakers’ natural language, whereas other services usually use specially produced, but less appealing pedagogic content. Last but not least, our interface is just beautiful – people love it!”
According to Abdulnasyrov, LinguaLeo aims to raise $5 million to finance its international expansion using a cautious, step-by-step strategy. “We need smart money. In particular, we seek experience in locating web services in other countries.”
Abdulnasyrov hopes to take advantage of his three month stay in Palo Alto at the Plug And Play tech incubator, which Cisco Systems awarded to LiguaLeo at the BIT contest, to present LiguaLeo to US venture funds.
A graduate of Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, Abdulnasyrov had his first project incubated by HSE Inc., the university’s business incubator. “LinguaLeo was derived from this first experience. But it took a team brainstorming in Thailand for six months to fine tune the concept.”
