Why we invested in Buddy.ai
Because Practice Makes Perfect
To become fluent in a foreign language, experts recommend starting learning before the age of 12. That’s why school plays a huge role in teaching, and the curriculum requires competence in English before graduation in more than 150 countries (source). Yet, Education First labeled 50 non-English-dominant countries with low or very low proficiency mainly in Africa, Asia, and South America (source).
Studies have reported that 33% to 50% of students show foreign learning anxiety (source) that prevents them from practicing. They mainly fear making mistakes, not being understood because of their accent, and do not have opportunities to speak English with other people.
Amid crowded classrooms, the educational systems fail to give children all the elements they need to learn English, especially in speaking.
Private tutoring remains a solution for families, but lessons are too expensive, with fees around $15 to $20 per hour.
In-the-pocket tutoring partially fills the gap
Unlike school teachers, mobile applications are available on-demand, 24/7, and provide individualized lessons anywhere. Each month, 100 million people around the world study every day with Duolingo, 4 million families play on LingoKids, and dozens of other applications give exercises or resources to improve their English level. They train vocabulary, pronunciation, listening, reading, writing, and grammar through gamified learning journeys, and recently conversations leveraging the new LLMs (Large Language Models).
Thus, the future of language learning includes speaking with a virtual tutor who knows your hobbies, your common mistakes, and who adapts the learning accordingly. Research has also shown that including an avatar would increase user engagement and improve learner’s trust and confidence.
Kids learning English as a foreign language present challenges which these applications must address. They need to erase or correct their persuasive mother tongue accent and feel involved during the lessons. While a child is saying the right word, with an odd pronunciation, the application might reject the answer and damage their self-confidence. Many companies address the reading skills (Lingokids, Lingumi, Rosetta Stone) but fail to properly train oral speaking.
Buddy, the AI tutor suited to non-English speakers
In 2017, Ivan Crewkov and Dima Plotnikov, two experienced entrepreneurs and fathers concerned about their children's English proficiency, launched Buddy.ai, the first personalized tutor suitable for any accent.
They knew voice recognition constitutes the most tricky part of teaching a language, and they were the ideal team as they had just sold Cubic.ai (an Amazon Alexa-like) to to the tech giant Yandex. The 17-person team split between Europe and California has now made its way among the most famous resources in English for 4–10-year-old children.
The application trains vocabulary retention, oral comprehension, and speaking through themed gamified activities where the children discover words and use them in a discussion to beat the bosses. A friendly avatar named Buddy encourages them even when they don’t say the word accurately or make mistakes. Following the answer, an algorithm chooses an appropriate dialogue line to continue the discussion. At the end of each activity, new costumes appear and the user can dress Buddy with funny caps or hats. Up to now, 1,500 words spread into 15 categories are available, with many more to come.
A unique proprietary AI technology
Buddy’s uniqueness comes from both their speech recognition model and avatars. Buddy’s speech recognition model relies on more than 20 million parameters and outperforms native automated speech recognition systems like Google’s or Apple’s on children’s speech.
They have chosen an inclusive approach even if it means accepting mispronounced words in order to boost children’s self-confidence and keep them engaged. The friendly atmosphere is accentuated by Buddy’s reactions following an answer; the avatar changes its colors, sizes, and displays emotional expressions.
The model has been trained on a unique accented child speech database which represents a strong barrier to entry.
A character well-known by children on the Internet
Buddy is already a star on YouTube with 145k subscribers and videos with 10M+ of views and thousands of likes. The success is worldwide, and people from Brazil, Turkey, Poland, etc. comment on their videos. The short stories even conquered the United States where 5% of school-age children struggle with English (source).
Children discover Buddy on social media and urge their parents to download the application, who subscribe when they see the clear benefits of Buddy.ai’s teaching.
The popularity brings more childreyyn every month to download the application, with 900k reviews on a 4.8 average rating. With 25 million downloads, Buddy.ai reached the first place on the App Store in Kids and Education categories in Latam, Europe, and MENA and keeps acquiring users with impressive growth. Buddy.ai is also now the most popular language app for kids on Google Play.
On a mission to give families the right tools
Buddy.ai’s reason-to-be is to build an application everyone can use, regardless of their accent, fluency, or educational background. The company offers unlimited speaking practice with the attention of a live tutor who drives lessons to improve kids' English fluency and confidence. It also sets up a low-pressure atmosphere through the avatar’s playful attitude and frequent positive remarks.
We are excited to support Ivan and the team on their adventure and accompany them in their quest to help families and later schools.
This is why we have invested in Buddy’s $11m Seed round led by Bitkraft, the leading US gaming VC, in their ambitious journey to become the leading AI product for children, beyond English Learning, as they have already successfully entered the US with a Early Learning and School Prep product. And there is much more to come… stay tuned!
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Kudos to Raphaël Faurie for your contribution to this post and this deal ;)
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About Educapital
Educapital is the largest European impact investment fund dedicated to the Future of Education and Work. Founded in 2017 by Marie-Christine Levet and Litzie Maarek, Educapital invests from late seed to Series B in start-ups that are disrupting or innovating in these sectors.
Educapital invests in every field of Edtech — early childhood, K12, higher education, continuing education — and focuses on HRtech solutions dedicated to talent first — professional training, recruitment and mobility, engagement and well-being in the workplace.
Educapital’s ambition is to help European champions emerge by providing them with initial financial support, ongoing expertise and market-specific know-how.
Educapital has invested in more than 30 leading companies, including 360Learning, Preply, Lunii,KnowUnity and Female invest, making it one of the most active EdTech and Future of Work funds in the world.
