With over a decade of innovation, language-learning app Duolingo has become a global leader in online language education and EdTech.
As of November 2024, Duolingo’s market cap stands at $13.38 billion, showcasing its dominance in the sector.
Our experts at Business2Community have analyzed a range of sources to provide a comprehensive overview of Duolingo’s growth and evolution. Read on to explore Duolingo’s backstory, major milestones, successes, and more.
Duolingo Key Company Data
Duolingo Net Worth: $13.38 billion
Date Founded: October 2011
Founded By: Luis von Ahn
Current CEO: Luis von Ahn
Industries: EdTech
Duolingo Stock Ticker: NASDAQ: DUOL
Dividend Yield: 0%
What is Duolingo’s Net Worth?
As of November 2024, Duolingo’s net worth, or market capitalization, is $13.38 billion. The language-learning app went public on the NASDAQ in July 2021 with an initial public offering price of $102 per share. Under the ticker symbol DUOL, the company’s shares closed up 36% in its market debut giving it a market cap of nearly $5 billion.
Duolingo’s stock surged after the IPO, peaking at over $200 per share in September 2021. The increase in value was driven by excitement around the company’s rapid user growth and unique gamified approach to education.
However, a lack of profitability in the months following Duolingo’s IPO led its stock to drop in value. It wasn’t until 2023 that it regained that early high valuation after generating a net income of $3.7 million in the second quarter. This was compared to a $15 million loss in the same quarter of 2022.
Since then, Duolingo has reported consistent if not modest quarterly profits and its stock price has continued to grow. Early in 2024, the company’s net worth exceeded $10 billion for the first time.
Duolingo typically releases its annual financial results in February, following its fiscal year close at the end of December.
Duolingo Revenue
Duolingo has shown consistent growth since its 2021 IPO, as it continues to grow its user base and introduce new monetization strategies. In 2023, Duolingo reported over $500 million in revenue, placing it firmly at the center of the EdTech industry.
In 2022, Duolingo reported revenue of over $369 million, up from $250 million in 2021. While Duolingo had been operating at a loss for several years, it achieved profitability for the first time in 2023. The company’s losses had been put down to high research and development costs, as well as investment in expanding its product features.
The Duolingo app now offers over 100 courses in 40 languages. The most popular is English for Spanish speakers.
Duolingo’s growth has been fueled by the increasing popularity of its paid subscription service, Super Duolingo. The paid version of the app, which offers an ad-free experience and other premium features, had 8.6 million users in quarter three of 2024.
In addition to subscription revenue, the company generates income through ads, in-app purchases, and the Duolingo English test, which has become increasingly popular. With continued user growth, especially in international markets, Duolingo’s revenue has shown strong upward momentum, positioning it as a leader in the industry.
Here’s a rundown of the company’s annual revenue and net income since 2019.
| Year | Revenue ($ millions) | Net Income ($ millions) |
| 2019 | 71 | -14 |
| 2020 | 162 | -16 |
| 2021 | 251 | -60 |
| 2022 | 369 | -60 |
| 2023 | 531 | 16 |
Duolingo hasn’t paid any dividends to its shareholders since going public. The company has focused on reinvesting its income into fueling further growth, such as expanding its language courses, improving its technology, and exploring new markets.
Duolingo has yet to make any stock splits or stock buybacks to date. At this stage, its strategy is designed to deliver long-term growth and innovation which is typical of companies in the early stages of public trading.
Who Owns Duolingo?
Duolingo has been publicly traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange since 2021. More than 75% of Duolingo stock is held by institutional investors such as The Vanguard Group (7.86%), BlackRock (7.85%), and Baillie Gifford (7.28%). Co-founders Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker each hold around a 7% stake in Duolingo.
Duolingo was founded in 2011 by Luis von Ahn, a Guatemalan computer scientist, and Severin Hacker. Their vision was to create a free and accessible language-learning platform.
In its early days, Duolingo attracted significant investment from fellow tech entrepreneurs and venture capital firms. In 2011, it raised $3.3 million in a seed round led by Union Square Ventures. Other early-stage investors included actor Ashton Kutcher, lifestyle guru Tim Ferriss, and New Enterprise Associates (NEA).
As the company grew, it raised more funds, including $45 million in a 2015 Series D round led by Google Capital, which valued Duolingo at around $470 million. In 2019, Duolingo announced that it had raised a further $30 million from Google’s parent company Alphabet’s investment arm. This valued Duolingo at around $1.5 billion.
Duolingo went public on the NASDAQ stock exchange in July 2021. With its stock priced at $102 per share, the IPO raised over $500 million. While institutional investors, including large asset management firms, now hold a significant portion of the company’s shares, Luis von Ahn and other early backers continue to influence Duolingo’s direction with their substantial ownership stakes.
Who is the Duolingo CEO?
Luis von Ahn is the CEO and co-founder of Duolingo. He co-founded the company with his former student, Severin Hacker, in 2011. Under von Ahn’s leadership, Duolingo has grown to become a global EdTech company with millions of daily and monthly users.
Born in 1978 in Guatemala City, von Ahn is also known for his pioneering work in crowdsourcing and CAPTCHA tech. He has an undergraduate degree from Duke University and a PhD in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University, where he later became a professor.
Who Created Duolingo?
Duolingo was created in 2011 by Guatemalan computer scientist Luis von Ahn and his business partner Severin Hacker. They set out with a goal to make education accessible to everyone.
Speaking about what led him to create Duolingo, von Ahn said: “In 2011, after spending a couple of years working at Google, I decided that I wanted to dedicate myself to helping to transform education. I was particularly inspired by my upbringing in Guatemala, a poor country where high-quality educational opportunities are limited to those who have money.”
Von Ahn’s early career boasts other groundbreaking inventions such as CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA, which are the essential puzzle programs used to distinguish between humans and bots that you see everywhere online. In 2009, Google acquired reCAPTCHA for an undisclosed amount, boosting von Ahn’s profile as a tech innovator. His work has earned him several notable awards, fellowships, and prizes.
Duolingo’s Company History
Duolingo was founded in 2011 by Luis von Ahn, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University at the time, and Severin Hacker, one of his PhD students. The company started with a mission to make education free and accessible to everyone through tech.
Focusing on helping people learn languages, Duolingo has grown to become the most downloaded education app in the world. Through a “freemium” business model, Duolingo allows its users to access a range of free services alongside in-app purchases and a paid subscription option.
Read on to find out more about how Duolingo took the EdTech industry by storm.
2011-2021: Duolingo Founded to Widen Access to Education
Von Ahn and Hacker came up with the idea for Duolingo in 2009. Having just sold reCAPTCHA to Google, von Ahn had the urge to develop an accessible education-related product. As a Guatemalan native, von Ahn had seen how prohibitively expensive it could be to learn English and so the idea for Duolingo was formed.
In the early days, the pair funded the project through von Ahn’s MacArthur fellowship and a National Science Foundation grant. The company also earned revenue through a crowdsourced translation service.
However, the company got off the ground in earnest in 2011 when Duolingo raised $3.3 million in funding. The investment was led by Union Square Ventures, alongside Tim Ferriss and actor Ashton Kutcher. Duolingo launched a private beta version, which quickly gathered a significant waiting list.
By the time Duolingo became available to the wider public in 2012, around half a million people were on the waiting list.
Later that year, Duolingo raised an additional $15 million and went on to release its own iPhone app. The Android app followed in 2013. By the summer of 2013, Duolingo had amassed five million users and was one of the top free education apps in Google Play and other app stores.
With Duolingo, learners learn through a gamified approach, with its bite-sized lessons covering translation, interactive exercises, tests, and quizzes. Its algorithm adapts to the learner enabling it to give personalized feedback.
Duolingo also offers an element of competition with leagues between up to 30 people worldwide. Through reminders and an on-screen widget, learners are also encouraged to maintain a streak – the number of days in a row they’ve completed a lesson on Duolingo.
By 2014, Duolingo had more than 25 million registered users and secured a further $20 million in a Series C funding round led by Kleiner Perkins. However, despite the growing user base, the company was yet to turn a profit.
With around $70 million in additional funding secured over the next few years, Duolingo continued to draw in new learners with its unique gamified approach to learning. The product also continued to evolve, with the introduction of Duolingo Plus, a premium subscription allowing users offline access and an ad-free experience when they pay a monthly fee (later to become Super Duolingo). In 2018, the company reported more than 300 million registered users.
In 2019, Duolingo raised $30 million from CapitalG, valuing the company at around $1.5 billion. With its expanded product offer and aggressive business growth plans, Duolingo increased its headcount significantly. To accommodate its new staff, Duolingo opened offices in Seattle, New York, and Beijing in addition to the Duolingo headquarters in Pittsburgh.
Duolingo also launched Duocon in 2019, an annual conference that aims to bring together Duolingo users, language enthusiasts, and EdTech professionals under one roof. The company uses the conference to share updates, new features, and plans for the future. The 2020 event was held online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent events have also all been virtual.
2021-2024: Duolingo Goes Public and Continues to Expand
Duolingo’s momentum continued through the COVID-19 pandemic, as global demand for online learning surged. In July 2021, the company went public on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol DUOL, with a price of $102 per share. The IPO raised over $500 million. By the time the markets closed on its first day of trading, Duolingo was valued at nearly $5 billion.
The IPO was seen as a major financial milestone, marking the company’s transition from a start-up to a major player in the EdTech industry. Duolingo used the funds raised from the IPO to continue expanding its product offerings and user base, focusing on scaling its tech, marketing, and product innovation.
Following the IPO, Duolingo began a period of significant growth. Later in 2021, the company launched the Duolingo English Test (DET), an alternative to traditional English proficiency exams like TOEFL and IELTS. This helped Duolingo target a different customer base: those preparing for higher education and immigration requirements.
In 2022, Duolingo acquired Gunner, a design and animation studio for an undisclosed amount. That year, the company reported an almost 50% increase in revenue, driven by growth in both its premium subscriptions and the success of new product lines like the English test.
Duolingo also launched Duolingo Math in 2022, marking its first major move outside of language learning. Through its games, Duolingo Math covers basic arithmetic as well as fractions and decimals, including comparing, converting, and calculating. The product targets students and adults looking to improve their math skills, reflecting the company’s ambition to become a broader educational platform.
In 2023, Duolingo launched Duolingo Music a new platform on iOS and Android devices that provides basic piano and sheet music lessons. In line with Duolingo’s fun approach to learning, learners can practice their skills by playing pop songs during the course.
Later that year, the company also introduced a new subscription service, Duolingo Max. Max sits one level above Super Duolingo and allows users access to two new features and exercises powered by the latest advances in artificial intelligence. Duolingo Max offers all the same benefits as Super but also includes:
- Explain My Answer: Explain My Answer allows learners to chat with Duo in real time to get a simple explanation as to why their answer was right or wrong.
- Role Play: Role play provides the opportunity to practice real-life conversations with a range of different characters in the app.
Duolingo Controversies
While Duolingo has enjoyed a relatively smooth path up until now, it has not been without some controversies. The criticisms we explore below haven’t led to any major fines or legal challenges, but they continue to shape public perceptions of Duolingo and its business model.
Data Privacy Concerns
Duolingo has faced criticism over its data privacy practices. In 2023, the data of 2.6 million users was leaked on a hacking forum. The data, including names, login IDs, and email addresses was obtained through data scraping of public profile information.
The incident raised concerns about how the company handles data security, prompting debates on whether free education platforms such as Duolingo are inclined to prioritize profit over privacy. The company claimed the issue was quickly resolved, but the incident highlighted potential security weaknesses.
Gamification Criticism
While Duolingo’s gamified approach to language learning has been widely praised, it has also drawn criticism from educators who argue it oversimplifies the process of learning a new language. Critics say that the app’s focus on earning points, streaks, and leaderboards might promote a superficial level of learning, where users are more interested in competition than deep comprehension.
@duolingo you just HAD to do your lesson at 11:59 huh #duolingo #streak #languagelearning
Others have also argued that Duolingo simply can’t provide enough context for a proper understanding of language or culture.
Duo the Owl’s Cheeky Side
Duolingo is well-known for its playful social media posts which have helped the company to build a unique online personality, particularly through its mascot, Duo the Owl. One of Duolingo’s favorite tactics is portraying Duo as a demanding character who’s got his eyes firmly on their progress.
Posts about what Duo will do if you miss a lesson have become popular memes as they resonate with users who can relate to the pressure of maintaining their streaks.
What Can We Learn From Duolingo?
Duolingo’s business model and growth offer several key lessons for others in the tech and education sectors. Firstly, its freemium model has proven to be highly effective at attracting users while generating revenues through paid subscriptions and ads. By keeping the core product free, Duolingo has built brand loyalty and scaled quickly.
Secondly, ongoing product innovation has been crucial. Duolingo has expanded into new areas like the Duolingo English Test, math, and music, diversifying its offer to capture more market share and develop new revenue streams. Duolingo’s ability to expand while staying true to its core mission has been a powerful part of its growth strategy.
Duolingo’s focus on data and gamification highlights the importance of user engagement. By analyzing user behavior and creating an addictive, fun experience, the company keeps users returning and encourages upgrades. Other businesses can learn from Duolingo’s ability to combine accessibility with gradual monetization and its continuous innovation to ensure both growth and profitability over time.