Ringle, South Korea’s online English learning startup, raises $18m Series A

Ringle, a South Korea-based online English learning startup, announced raising $18 million in a Series A funding round that valued the edtech company at $90 million.

The funding round, which the company said is the second-largest Series A funding amount among the country’s English education startups, was anchored by Must Asset Management and backed by One-asset management, Xoloninvest, and MoCA Ventures.

Founded in 2015, Ringle provides one-on-one video English lessons with native-speaking tutors from universities in English-speaking countries. The startup said its learning materials are thought-provoking and touch on a wide variety of topics.

Using AI-based analytics, Ringle also provides a comprehensive data-based feedback report on students’ speech pace, vocabulary, and expression range.

Co-founders Seunghoon Lee and Sungpah Lee started Ringle to solve a problem they faced as non-native English speakers studying in the US. English was an obstacle they had to overcome to exchange knowledge and grow further.

“I wanted to create a service that changes people’s lives. Our primary goal is to break down language barriers, but ultimately what we’re doing is connecting top talents from around the world, providing a platform for mutual learning and growth,” said Sungpah Lee.

Currently, the startup has over 700 manually vetted tutors and 100,000 users, 30% of whom are based outside of Korea. Ringle’s revenue has also grown three times annually since its founding.

In a statement, the Ringle said it will utilize the Series A funding to develop original educational content and grow teams at its headquarters in Seoul, Korea, and San Mateo, California.

The company is keen to diversify revenue sources by providing a subscription option to access premium content. It will also push for client expansion both globally and to different age groups.

A good portion of the funding will be invested in enhancing the service’s tech platform. In collaboration with KAIST(Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology)’s HCI (human-computer interaction) research team, Ringle is developing a language diagnostics system that measures and tracks student’s complexity, accuracy, and fluency in English speaking.