Announcing a New Funding Round from Europe’s Leading Education Technology Investors

2020 has surprised us all. For Team Tandem, it’s been an exciting few months. Not only have we offered language learners an online-learning alternative to closed universities and schools, but we’ve also provided a platform for people to digitally connect with others during a time of limited face-to-face interactions.

Today, we’re delighted to announce our Series A funding round led by Brighteye Ventures - the leading European education technology fund - along with Trind Ventures, Rubylight Limited, and GPS Ventures. This latest investment round is a big milestone for us - one that enables us to introduce Tandem to even more language learners around the globe. We’re excited to be working with a group of investors who share our vision of a world where people connect through learning.

Since our launch date back in 2015, we’ve grown our community to more than 10 million members. That’s 10 million people not just learning to speak a language, but teaching each other, sharing stories of their lives, and engaging in meaningful cross-cultural conversations. And we can’t wait to see what our future holds.

Our next steps in growing the Tandem community

Tandem’s mission remains the same: to build a global language learning community that empowers everyone, everywhere to speak any language. We’ll continue to work hard to achieve this, by adding new members to the Tandem team, accelerating the product development, and supporting the growth of Tandem’s global community.

No matter how you go about it, it takes time to master a new language. At Tandem, we’ve always believed in the power of friendships and human connection to stay motivated. During these unprecedented times, more and more people are getting used to connecting and working digitally. That’s why we’re excited about developing new formats for people to learn together online and live on the Tandem app.

The best way to reach fluency, wherever you are in the world

If you really want to become fluent in a foreign language, you actually have to speak it. It’s something we’ve said many times before and continue to stick by. Now more than ever, we’re committed to providing the best language exchange experience out there, so that you, our passionate community, can keep smashing those language goals.

Although we know there’s a lot of work on the road ahead, we’re really proud of our recent achievements. We’ve added a whole bunch of new languages to Tandem, including Ancient Greek, Fijian, and Mandalorian. Now Tandem offers more than 300 languages, including 20 sign languages, 20 indigenous languages, and 6 fictional ones. We’ve also introduced new ways to find Tandem partners in thousands of cities around the world so that our members can connect with people ahead of their travels or study abroad programs. And, to top it all off, we’ve also launched a Tandem web app, for those who prefer to have a language exchange on their laptop or desktop PC.

The last five years have been a wonderful whirlwind journey for Tandem. And today, we’re thrilled to announce the beginning of a new chapter. To everyone who’s supported Tandem since our launch in 2015 - thank you! We couldn’t have done it without you by our side. Here’s to many more years of shaping the future of language learning!