Language learning community Babbel just released some interesting numbers on its company blog. According to the post [German], Babbel doubled its user base since the end of 2010.
2.5 million users in 200 countries are currently learning with Babbel and the Berlin-based startup tripled its revenue in 2011. Babbel famously decided to switch its business model from freemium to premium only back in November 2009 and announced its first profitable Q1 in April 2010.
As mobile applications are apparently a driving force behind the growth of Babbel and its European competitor busuu, Babbel also announced that they will take over the entire iPhone department of software developer Aspirement, the company that built the applications for Babbel.
As a next major step, Babbel is planning to take on the North-American market, the home turf of Rosetta Stone and Livemocha. The latter just announced a partnership with Abril Educacao, strengthening its position in Latin America. Markus Witte, CEO and Thomas Holl, CTO will be attending this year’s DEMO Fall conference in Sillicon Valley on September 12th to 14th, just a couple of weeks after busuu’s announcement to expand to the US.
Parallel to a growing user base Babbel is also expanding its team of employees and freelancers. Today there are already 70 people working for the startup in Berlin and is currently planning to hire 10 more people for different positions.
Website: babbel.com
Twitter: @babbel
Website: aspirement.com
