Learning science firm McGraw-Hill Education has taken a €6m minority equity stake in busuu, the world’s largest social network for language learning.
The transaction is expected to give McGraw-Hill Education exclusive global rights to market busuu to B2B customers, including schools, private language institutions and corporations.
Additionally, the two companies will explore adding McGraw-Hill Education’s adaptive technology to busuu products.
Founded in 2008, busuu has been adding as many as 100,000 users each day. The company offers free and paid audio-visual language courses for 12 languages and includes direct interaction with native speakers around the world. Approximately two-thirds of busuu’s users access the platform via mobile devices.
“We see tremendous opportunities with the powerful combination McGraw-Hill Education’s global reach and the scale and innovative mobile solutions of busuu,” said Mark Dorman, president of McGraw-Hill Education’s International & Professional group.
“The global market for language instruction totals $60 billion annually and is growing rapidly. The innovative and mobile busuu solution complements our digital offerings and opens a number of new sales opportunities for our company.”
Bernhard Niesner, CEO of busuu, added: “For busuu, this alliance allows us to quickly grow our market penetration with a trusted name such as McGraw-Hill Education.
“We are especially excited to explore adding McGraw-Hill Education’s adaptive capabilities to our platform and believe this will revolutionize the way people learn languages.”