Preply
About
Preply is a Ukrainian-founded online tutoring marketplace that matches learners with one-on-one language tutors through a search-and-book flow, a subscription-based lesson plan, and an in-browser classroom that handles video, shared docs, homework, and scheduling. Founded in 2012 in Kyiv by Kirill Bigai, Dmytro Voloshyn, and Serge Lukyanov, Preply now serves millions of learners and tens of thousands of tutors across more than 180 countries, with particular strength in English, Spanish, French, German, and — increasingly — business-skills subjects beyond pure language. The company has raised over USD 120 million from investors including Owl Ventures, Hoxton Ventures, and Point Nine, and officially relocated its headquarters to Barcelona in 2023 while keeping significant engineering operations in Kyiv. Preply is a canonical example of Ukrainian B2C SaaS that became genuinely global and represents a rare European challenger to Cambly, italki, and other US-led language-tutoring marketplaces.
Investors and backers 7
- AVentures CapitalVenture Capital · Kyiv
- Cogito CapitalVenture Capital · Warsaw
- Hedgehog FundVenture Capital · Warsaw
- Indico Capital PartnersVenture Capital · Lisbon
- Inovo Venture PartnersVenture Capital · Warsaw
- Point NineVenture Capital · Berlin
- SMRK VCVenture Capital · Kyiv
Connection map
Every node here is a row in the lists above — the map is a second view of the same connections, not another source of them.
Recent news
- Language learning marketplace Preply's unicorn status embodies Ukrainian resilience2026-01-21 · TechCrunch
- Ukrainian-founded language learning edtech Preply hits $1.2B valuation with $150M Series D2026-01-21 · Tech.eu
- Preply adds €127 million and nearly triples valuation as it scales AI and tutoring platform globally2026-01-21 · EU-Startups