# Preply

Preply is an online, language-learning marketplace that connects learners and tutors by using a machine-learning-powered algorithm to recommend a tutor for each student.
Preply has grown from a team of 3 to a company of over 500 employees of 60 different nationalities; with offices in Barcelona, New York and Kyiv, employees work across 30 countries in Europe, USA, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

## History

The company was founded in 2012 by Ukrainian entrepreneurs Kirill Bigai, Serge Lukyanov and Dmytro Voloshyn. The website, preply.com, was launched in November 2013.
On August 31, 2013, Preply became a leading Ukrainian educational startup after an initial angel investment of $180,000 from Semyon Dukach, Borya Shakhnovich, Vadim Yasinovsky, Dan Pasko, Torben Majgaard and Vostok Ventures.
In 2013, the company started its expansion into the markets of other Eastern European countries, namely Belarus, Kazakhstan, Poland and Russia.
In 2016, the Preply platform was updated with a new ranking algorithm based on machine learning and used for classifying and recommending tutors. Preply raised $1.3 million in funding from investors like Techstars, SMRK VCDigital and Arthur Kosten. The team experienced significant growth, with the employee count reaching 100, marking a seven-fold increase in less than three years.
In 2018, Preply Classroom (formerly Preply Space) was launched as the all-in-one language learning ecosystem with the integrated video platform, online chat, screen sharing, and more.
In 2019, Preply entered the Spanish market after opening an office in Barcelona, and from there it further expanded its services into British and German markets.
In March 2021, Preply had accumulated a total of $50.6 million in investments through 8 funding rounds; in July 2022, an additional $50 million of investment were raised.
In August 2023, Preply extended their series C with an additional $70-million raise led by Horizon Capital and announced in tandem with the launch of an AI assistant. In that same year, the company opened an office in New York City.

## Product

Preply’s product is based on AI-powered human tutoring. The company uses a machine-learning algorithm to increase matching efficiency between learners and tutors on a variety of parameters such as price, availability, country of birth, other languages spoken, learning objectives, and more.
Preply offers classes in 50 languages, with tutors functioning as independent contractors who set their own rates and schedules.

## Pricing

Preply allows tutors on the platform to set their own pricing and charges tutors a commission for each lesson.
For every trial lesson with a new student Preply’s commission is 100%.
For all the subsequent lessons, Preply charges a percentage (18%-33%) of the hourly rate.
| Completed hours | Commission rate |
| 0 - 20 hours | 33% |
| 21 - 50 hours | 28% |
| 51 - 200 hours | 25% |
| 201 - 400 hours | 22% |
| 400+ hours | 18% |
In addition to the commission Preply charges, they also inflate the tutor's set pricing to make additional profits.
For example; a tutor with 150 hours who has set their pricing at $10 per 50 minutes may be marketed to students at $14 per 50 minutes. Preply then takes the $4 markup and $2.50 commission.

## Recognition

In May 2020, Preply won “The Revenue Hack of 2020” at the Ukrainian Startup Awards.