Preply, a language learning platform, has announced that it has closed a $150 million Series D funding round led by WestCap, a strategic investment and operational management company with over $6 billion in assets under management. This funding round values the company at $1.2 billion and represents an important milestone for Preply in its mission to deliver revolutionary and accessible learning experiences around the world.
Preply specialises in online language learning, connecting over 100,000 tutors with students from 180 countries and offering private lessons in more than 90 languages. Thanks to its unique combination of real teachers and a suite of AI-powered learning tools, Preply is redefining language learning by offering high-quality, flexible, and tailored teaching experiences designed to ensure tangible progress after every lesson.
Preply’s Series D investment round comes at a time when approximately 1.8 billion people, or nearly one in four people worldwide, are actively seeking to master a foreign language, according to global education data platform HolonIQ. According to estimates by Meticulous Research, the global D2C language learning market will reach a value of £16 billion by 2035. It has already tripled its growth over the last five years, and long-term forecasts indicate that it will continue to grow steadily and exponentially in the coming years.
Since its Series C funding round, Preply has tripled the number of active teachers on its platform and expanded its offering by adding over 40 new languages. Over the last twelve months, the company has seen a steady improvement in its EBITDA, reaching a positive result.
With this capital and the support of new and existing investors, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Horizon Capital, Preply will strengthen its commitment to providing increasingly personalised learning experiences at scale. The company plans to invest in its AI and data analytics capabilities, expand its product and engineering teams to improve the platform, and accelerate its global growth to reach even more students and teachers, thereby contributing to the transformation of the traditional education system. The WestCap team, with extensive experience in building and scaling global platforms such as Airbnb and StubHub, will help Preply multiply its impact on a global scale.
“It is a great honour and responsibility for us to be able to help shape the future of learning,” said Kirill Bigai, co-founder and CEO of Preply (pictured with the team), in a statement. “We already connect students with the best teachers in the world, and thanks to AI integration, we have achieved unprecedented levels of learning effectiveness. We are extremely proud to be working with the WestCap team, which has been helping entrepreneurs build legendary brands with a global impact for years. This investment will allow us to continue exploring the intersection between teaching and AI tools, offering people the opportunity to make connections, feel part of a community, build their careers and continue to grow, wherever they are.
At a time when other learning platforms are increasingly focusing on automation, Preply continues to believe in the power of human relationships, using AI to maximise the teaching experience and enrich its suite of teaching tools. The 2025 Preply Effectiveness Study, conducted in collaboration with the non-profit research organisation LeanLab Education, revealed that 96% of students consider learning with a tutor and conversation practice to be essential to their progress. Ninety-seven per cent of students say that these interactions have been crucial in helping them gain confidence in the language they are learning.
Furthermore, the study showed that Preply students progress up to three times faster than average, with one-third of them advancing an entire CEFR level in just 12 weeks. This shows that teacher support continues to play an essential role in learning and that, when supported by AI, its effects can be maximised thanks to tools that help monitor progress, provide practical analysis, and automate administrative tasks. This allows teachers to focus entirely on teaching, while students achieve their goals more quickly.
“Preply is setting a new standard in large-scale personalised learning, with virtually endless opportunities,” says Allen Mask, partner at WestCap, former Airbnb executive and new member of Preply’s board of directors. “Data shows better results when technology supports the learning path created by the teacher. In the interconnected society we live in, democratising access to high-quality education is a real necessity, one that we are called upon to address in innovative and effective ways. Preply has all the ingredients for success: a market-leading product, an experienced management team, and a vision that will shape the future of communication on a global scale.”
With this latest round of funding, Preply has now raised a total of approximately $299 million to date, demonstrating the strong confidence investors have in the company’s mission and trajectory.
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