Babbel aims to go public by the end of the year

The language teaching startup is targeting the Frankfurt price lists. Primary objective is 180 million, to grow and evaluate acquisitions

Arne Schepker (Mirella Frangella for Babbel) The first listing on the stock exchange of a European digital training company (edtech) will arrive by the end of 2021: Babbel, scaleup of distance language learning, has chosen Frankfurt to test the mood of the market towards e-learning. The primary objective of the initial public offering (IPO) is to collect 180 million euros, to enhance services and attack new markets.

Babbel co-founder and CEO Arne Schepker explained this in an interview with Wired. "Ours is a rapidly growing sector, we want to take advantage of the moment to bring language teaching into a new era. We will continue to invest to expand our language ecosystem and scale up our B2B offering, ”he says.

Company numbers

Babbel, founded by four music lovers in 2007, has developed an application to learn the language without having to deal with a live teacher. Users, Schepker emphasizes, are "millions" and the exact number will come only with the pre-IPO prospectus. Today, it is reported, "the Babbel ecosystem" includes 60,000 digital lessons and more than 13,000 hours of content, available in multiple learning experiences, which allow the study of 15 languages ​​also through Babbel Live and podcasts.

In the last two years, scaleup has experienced sustained growth: after a 2020 defined as "exceptional" with 147 million euros in revenues, Babbel has seen revenues increase by 18% in the first half of 2021 reaching 83 million euros in the middle of the year. "A really strong growth, considering that we come from the acceleration of 2020", emphasizes Schepker.

"The first lockdown - says the top manager - obviously had a very positive impact for us: it changed all our lives and gave us a lot of free time that luckily many have chosen to spend learning a new one language with Babbel. Many new users have always arrived, but it is significant to note that in those months those who already had an account doubled their activities on the platform ".

And if the pandemic has put a strain on the school system around the world, it was an opportunity for the digital education society to make its way through the skeptics. “We have invested a lot in a period in which everyone divested - says Schepker - and we have opened our platform to students for free” to allow young people to perfect their language skills. And now, after months spent in distance learning around the world, "we no longer have to explain to anyone what e-learning is. Everyone wants to be part of the game ", notes the CEO.

Babbel looks to acquisitions to grow

The main market for Babbel is by far the United States, where the study of Spanish is the most popular. A force beyond the ocean that represents "a very strong signal for all European edtech startups". In non-English-speaking markets, on the other hand, English is the most chosen language for lessons and Italy is no exception. But, explains Schepker, there are differences related to the reasons for choosing to learn a foreign language and they range from pure curiosity to the need to perfect one's skills for career advancement.

Today the company has 750 employees worldwide, with offices in Berlin and New York. In the future he aims to strengthen the team, but the spirit and objectives "are always the initial ones: ours is the same job we had in mind in 2007, only now we do it better", adds the manager. With the proceeds of the IPO, new possibilities will also be evaluated, with Babbel wanting to be a predator. "We will look at possible acquisitions for inorganic growth (ie with the use of resources and capabilities outside the company, ed)", assures Schepker. Certainly, part of the revenues will go to support language-oriented social projects: 1% of the pre-listing capital will be allocated to special initiatives.


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