Preply Hits Unicorn Status With $150 Million Series D to Scale Human-Led, AI-Driven Language Learning

New updates have been reported about Preply.

Preply has raised $150 million in a Series D round led by WestCap, lifting the language learning marketplace’s valuation to $1.2 billion and positioning the company as a scaled, EBITDA-positive unicorn in a fast-growing $227 billion global language learning market. The New York–headquartered platform, which now connects over 100,000 tutors teaching more than 90 languages to learners in 180 countries, has tripled its pool of bookable tutors and expanded its language coverage by over 40 languages since its Series C, while turning EBITDA positive over the past twelve months. The round, with Goldman Sachs International as sole placement agent and participation from existing backers including EBRD and Horizon Capital, brings Preply’s total funding to roughly $299 million and adds WestCap partner Allen Mask to the board, providing marketplace-scaling expertise from prior roles at Airbnb and other platforms.

Management plans to deploy the new capital to deepen Preply’s differentiation at the intersection of human tutoring and AI, accelerating investment in its AI and data infrastructure, product, and engineering teams to enhance its tutoring co-pilot suite and overall platform experience. The company’s strategy is to double down on human-led instruction supported by automation, rather than fully automated learning, a position reinforced by its 2025 Efficiency Study with LeanLab Education, which found that 96% of learners view human-led conversations as essential to progress and that Preply users can advance up to three times faster than average benchmarks, with one in three moving a full CEFR level in 12 weeks. CEO and co-founder Kirill Bigai frames the raise as fuel to scale globally while preserving a high-touch model, aiming to capture share as 1.8 billion people worldwide pursue a second language and to solidify Preply’s standing as the category leader in human-led, AI-enabled education with strong investor backing and clear visibility on profitable growth.