London language platform acquires video tutoring company in multi-million dollar deal

A London-based language platform has acquired live video tutoring company Verbling in a multi-million dollar deal.

Busuu, which offers artificial intelligence-powered grammar and vocabulary training and multimedia lessons, is aiming to generate $40m in revenues in 2020 following the new acquisition.

Busuu recently surpassed 100m users globally, with the company estimating that they gain one new user every three seconds.

The company plans to use its acquisition of Verbling to launch a new live video tutoring service.

Bernhard Niesner, co-founder and CEO of Busuu, said: “No matter how smart technology becomes, language will always be about human interaction – which is exactly why Busuu was built around a learning community.

“Offering live video tutoring through our acquisition of Verbling is a natural progression for our business, and gives us the potential to expand beyond just language learning in the future.”

Mikael Bernstein, co-founder and CEO of Verbling, said: “We are very excited to be joining forces with Busuu’s talented and experienced team.”

“Combining our world-class tutors with Busuu’s AI-powered platform will enable language learners across the globe to reach proficiency even faster.”

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