Tag: owl ventures latest investment

Novakid, an online language learning platform that offers personalized English learning for kids ages 4-12 through AI and gamification, has raised €29.4 million (about $35 million) in a Series B round led by Owl Ventures and Goodwater Capital.

Existing investors including PortfoLion, LearnStart, TMT Investments, Xploration Capital, LETA Capital, and BonAngel also participated in the round.

Novakid’s learning format combines an interactive digital curriculum with individual live sessions where students and native-speaking teachers use English for 100% language immersion. The platform, which was founded in 2017, offers digital lessons, virtual 360-degree tours, in-class games, and machine learning-based assessment of students’ progress, allowing them to adapt the program to each student.

Novakid’s mission is to change this world for the better and make affordable high-quality education available to every child in the world. It provides a unique interactive program that was designed by experienced teachers and methodologists to create an environment for children so they can learn English intuitively as if it was their native language.

Talking about the company, Maxim Azarov, Founder & CEO of Novakid, said,

“Novakid’s goal is to improve the world via fostering communication without borders for the 21st century. English learning is an exponentially growing trend in the world where 20% of the population speaks this language, and as the English as a second language (ESL) market for kids is expected to grow significantly in the next decade, we’ve strengthened our investor pool with two of the very best investors in the edtech/consumer space, so we are fully prepared to build a unicorn with a significant share of the ESL market.”

According to reports, Novakid’s active client base growth rate reached nearly 700% year-on-year in 2021, with monthly growth as high as 14.8%. The number of classes delivered by the platform has surpassed the mark of €2.2 million in June 2021, reaching the level of over 410,000 new classes booked monthly.

Amy Krolevetsky, Co-founder and Director of Curriculum of Novakid, has also commented on the development, saying,

“We are now combining a gamification platform and refined content, making learning English as a second language with Novakid more effective and interactive, engaging students to spend more time studying. We are also planning to expand collaboration with linguistic laboratories in Europe and the US to further improve a hyper-personalized learning experience.”

The latest funding will be used to expand into new markets in Asia, strengthen the company’s position in existing markets (Europe and MENA), develop original educational content, and launch a new gamification platform to increase customer loyalty and satisfaction. 

Judy Park, Principal of Owl Ventures said,

“Novakid provides kids with a fun, engaging, and effective English learning experience. We’re impressed with the team’s passion for democratizing language education and its ability to penetrate a variety of markets across Europe and beyond. We’re incredibly excited to partner with the team to continue supporting product innovation and market expansion to serve kids around the world.”

Novakid was incorporated in the US and has students from over 40 countries, with a major customer base from Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Arab countries, and Russia. The startup expects its teaching staff to reach 3,000 native English speakers by the end of the year.

Novakid had last raised $4.25 million in its Series A round in December 2020 led by Hungary-based PortfoLion with participation from LearnStart, TMT Investments, and Xploration Capital, and seed investors BonAngels and LETA Capital.

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About the Author

Author: Shalini Pathak

Shalini Pathak is a Staff Writer at EdTechReview (ETR) – India’s leading edtech media & community. She has over four years of experience in media, covering different beats. Like all writers she’s an enthusiastic reader first with a passion to create out of the box content, and an ability to write about any topic. As a part of the ETR team, she will cover the latest in the edtech industry with a focus on edtech startup stories and their funding.

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