Duolingo Goes Public to Raise Its Value

For some companies, the global pandemic has a positive side. So, due to the growing demand for online studying, Duolingo, one of the most popular language-learning platforms, has achieved significant success in the first quarter of this year. Its representatives filed for the US IPO in June and valued their offering at around $3.41 billion.

The company plans to list approximately 5.1 million shares, each with a value ranging from $85 to $95. In the best-case scenario, it would generate $485 million in revenue for Duolingo. Part of the shares, namely 1.4 million, will be given away by selling stockholders. The platform will not receive money from them. The company plans to use the attracted investments for general corporate purposes, including working capital, operating expenses, and capital expenditures.

Duolingo was founded in 2011. The company now offers 100 courses in 40 languages ​​and has about 40 million active users per month. The branded app has been downloaded about 500 million times and occupies the leading position in digital stores in the Education section. All learning features in Duolingo are free, but the platform uses ads in both its web browser and mobile apps, which users can hide by paying a subscription fee.

Initially, the company used a crowdsourced business model where other organizations provided the content and paid Duolingo to translate it. After that, the platform has raised funding from venture capitalists like Union Square, New Enterprise Associates, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Google Capital, and the A-Grade Investments. According to the last round of funding results, which took place in November 2020, the Duolingo value was estimated at $2.4 billion. Its revenue for the first quarter of 2021 was $55.4 million. The net loss for the same period increased to $13.5 million versus $2.2 million a year earlier.