Most language learning apps offer features that let you select options or swipe away cards with incorrect answers—so you’re more or less interacting with a machine. Language learning app Praktikum takes a different approach: it lets you create personalized, AI-powered avatars to recreate the experience of a private tutor, using emphases like tone of voice and emotion to make language learning seem more natural.
Praktikum claims to have 1.2 million active monthly users across 100 countries and said it has generated nearly $20 million in revenue in the past 12 months. To continue growing, the startup has now secured a $35.5 million Series A funding round led by Blossom Capital. The round follows a previously unannounced $2.5 million seed funding round led by Creator Ventures and Blue Wire Capital.
Practicum users interact with AI avatars, who can then “tailor” lessons and speak in different accents, such as American, British, Asian and Indian. The more the learner interacts with the avatar, the more tailored the lessons become – or so the idea goes.
The company’s founding team, Adam Turaev (CEO), Anton Marin (CTO) and Ilya Chernyakov (CPO), had previously built Cleverbots, an AI services company whose clients included companies such as Coca-Cola, Kimberly-Clark and AstraZeneca.
“Most language learning apps are all about human interaction with a human tutor. Or it’s a ‘machine-to-human’ interaction with clicks and drag-and-drop,” Turaev told TechCrunch. “But we’re the only app on the market that focuses on tone of voice and mimics human-to-human interaction. We were the first to master this AI avatar approach, which is very natural in language learning. That’s what really sets it apart from all the other apps that are currently on the market.”
When asked how the startup uses AI, he said, “We orchestrate different LLMs, but we are an AI-native company. We have used GPT-4, GP Turbo, Gemini, Claude and Mistral. We are also experimenting with different versions of their models. We have collected a lot of training data and the app is still learning. We have terabytes of data of this human-AI interaction. We use anonymized data to strengthen the models.”
“Praktikum’s founding team is leveraging its extensive knowledge of AI to create a fun and affordable way to learn languages with personalized AI tutors. For too long, other learning apps have taken students for granted and put them at a disadvantage. The team’s determination to build a global challenger has resulted in one of the fastest-growing early-stage consumer AI companies in the world,” said Ophelia Brown, managing partner of Blossom Capital, in a statement.
Both the seed round and the recent Serie A saw the participation of prominent personalities such as Carles Reina (ElevenLabs) and Patrice Evra (five-time Premier League champion).
Sasha Kaletsky, managing partner of Creator Ventures, added in a statement: “Learning a language is a fundamentally human experience, and the Praktikum team has successfully brought this human-like element into the product using AI… Over a million learners worldwide are already improving their English with Praktikum, and this is just the beginning.”
