Preply: The Online Language Tutor Platform Hit $1.2B

Preply: The Online Language Tutor Platform That Chose Humans Over Automation

Most language apps promise fluency. Most deliver streaks. Preply made a different bet — that a real person on the other side of the screen is still the most powerful learning tool ever built. In January 2026, that bet reached a $1.2 billion valuation.

Founded in 2012 by Ukrainian entrepreneurs Kirill Bigai, Dmytro Voloshyn, and Serge Lukyanov, Preply is an online language tutor platform connecting learners with live, one-on-one human tutors across more than 90 languages in 180 countries. Its network now covers over 100,000 tutors, 300,000 five-star reviews, and a learner base spanning virtually every corner of the world. When other EdTech platforms were quietly replacing teachers with chatbots, Preply moved in the opposite direction entirely.

Why the Online Language Tutor Platform Kept Humans at the Center

Duolingo went AI-first and faced immediate backlash from learners and educators alike. Preply studied the reaction and chose a different path. Its 2025 Efficiency Study, conducted with nonprofit research organization LeanLab Education, found that 96% of learners consider real conversations with a human tutor essential to their progress. Furthermore, 97% said those interactions were the primary driver of their confidence.

The outcome data supports that instinct. Learners on Preply progressed up to three times faster than average benchmarks, with one in three moving up a full CEFR proficiency level in just 12 weeks. That's not a marketing claim. It's measured progress that most apps can't replicate because no algorithm catches the moment a student hesitates, pivots the lesson, and remembers what they struggled with last week.

AI does play a role, but a quiet one. Preply's tutoring co-pilot suite tracks progress, generates lesson insights, and automates administrative work so tutors spend their time teaching. The technology serves the teacher. The teacher serves the learner.

The Numbers Behind the Online Language Tutor Platform

Since its Series C round, Preply tripled both its tutor network and its revenue, while adding more than 40 new languages to the platform. In 2025, the company became EBITDA positive — a milestone that separates it from most EdTech competitors still burning through cash.

In January 2026, Preply closed a $150 million Series D led by WestCap, bringing total funding to $299 million. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Horizon Capital also joined the round. WestCap partner Allen Mask, previously a senior leader at Airbnb, joined the board — a signal that Preply is being positioned for the kind of global marketplace scale Airbnb achieved in travel.

CEO Kirill Bigai put it directly: today, Preply connects people with the world's best tutors, amplified by AI, bringing learning efficiency to a level that was previously unreachable.

Where the Online Language Tutor Platform Is Growing Next

The corporate market is where the next chapter lives. Preply for Business serves companies whose teams need to communicate across borders, replacing expensive in-person language programmes with flexible tutor-led lessons that fit real work schedules. HolonIQ forecasts the direct-to-consumer language learning market reaching $227 billion by 2035, and Preply's position is that human instruction will capture a growing share of that spend.

Worth noting is where the company builds from. Approximately 150 of Preply's 750 employees work from Kyiv — a commitment the founders have maintained throughout the war in Ukraine, through power cuts and air raid shelters. It's a detail that doesn't appear on a product roadmap, but says more about the company than most funding announcements do.