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Lingumi
Smart tutoring platform for kids ages 2-7
- 21-100 employees
- B2C
- Education
- Languages
- Mobile
- Kids
- WeWork, 3 Waterhouse Square, Holborn, London, UK
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Company mission
Their mission is to provide the world's best teaching experience to pre-school children all around the world through technology.
Otta's take
Theo Margolius
COO of Otta
Lingumi was developed to increase access to learning a second language, based on research that a child’s earliest years present a ‘magic window’ to do so. The learning method is digital and unique, focusing on ‘edutainment’, placing it very favourably in the growing EdTech market.
Lingumi grew significantly over the past few years, and did well to capitalise on the increasing trend for at-home learning. At one point they were top of the Kids section of the App Store in Taiwan, overtaking Peppa Pig. The app delivers a single lesson per day of around 20 minutes designed to be effective even if the parents themselves don’t speak English, opening Lingumi up to the international market.
It already has customers in over 40 countries, but is mainly focused on Western Europe, Taiwan and China, the latter being a potentially huge market which Lingumi hopes to tap into by leveraging its existing learning method and content in Chinese kindergartens.
Benefits
- Unlimited holiday (20 days have to be taken as a minimum)
- Annual learning and development budget
- We default to working from home, but have regular gatherings in an office to work face to face
Company values
- We are mission-driven
Funding (last 2 of 3 rounds)
Dec 2019
$5.1m
SERIES A
Jan 2018
$1.6m
SEED
$7.3m
Total funding
This company has top investors
Founders
Toby Mather
(Co-founder & CEO)Studied modern languages at Oxford University, before becoming an English teacher for children in Russia & Italy, started Lingumi through Entrepreneur First.
Adit Trivedi
(Co-founder)Previously studied Computer Science at UCL, started Lingumi through Entrepreneur First. Co-founder of Rayday.
People progressing
Ken Lim
Joined as a Full Stack Developer. Promoted to VP Engineering after 2 years.
Diversity & Inclusion at Lingumi
- We are in the early stages of kicking off our D&I initiatives but this is something we are hugely passionate about right across the board as D&I is not simply ‘a numbers game’ as many simplify it as. We have formed the following initiatives in order to start a wider conversation within the company:
- We have formed a D&I committee who meed every fortnight to discuss our strategy and plans internally. Each team within the company is represented within this and the reps from each team rotate quarterly
- We have opened up new lines of communication, such as a D&I slack channel to discuss ideas and updates of new things we have learned
- We have committed to gathering D&I data in early Q1 of 2021 to understand where we are at the moment and where we want to be by the end of the year
- We have also committed to adding questions relating to feeling included and represented at work to our monthly engagement survey- the happiness index
- We are also making a conscious effort with our recruitment as well in how we reach people and advertise ourselves
Endorsements
All
Autonomy (1)
Meaningful work (1)
Nice people (1)
Open and honest communication (1)
Thoughtful onboarding (1)
Inspiring mission (1)
The onboarding experience in Lingumi is phenomenal. I feel strongly included and welcomed from accepting the offer to my 90th day here.
People, HR, Recruitment
Thoughtful onboarding
Dec 2020
Everyone can reach out to anyone you'd like to feedback. Lingumi also has developed its feedback culture to make sure everyone knows how to best approach and react during feedback dialogue.
People, HR, Recruitment
Open and honest communication
Dec 2020
I love working for Lingumi because my work is making people happier and shaping a better culture in this workplace.
People, HR, Recruitment
Meaningful work
Dec 2020
Lingumi is a company where you truly see the difference that the product makes to young children. With a mission to educate more children around the world it's really motivating to keep refining the product and creating new solutions.
Software Engineering
Inspiring mission
Nov 2020
Every person I have interacted with at Lingumi has been a genuinely lovely person and with a very open culture you are able to speak to anyone about anything. The smaller teams allow for us to get to know each other on a personal basis as we as just being collegues.
Software Engineering
Nice people
Nov 2020
We have a culture of being encouraged to move through two way door quickly. This means if you have a good idea you are welcome to implement it. This is great as a developer as you are able to bring your ideas to the table and often implement them yourself.
Software Engineering
Autonomy
Nov 2020