Preply, a US and Spain-based global language learning marketplace, has announced today the closing of its Series D round, securing €127 million ($150 million) in funding to advance its AI and data capabilities, expand its product and engineering teams, and accelerate its global growth.
The round was led by WestCap with support from Índico Capital Partners. This round values the company at €1 billion ($1.2 billion) and brings Preply’s total funding to approximately €254 million ($299 million) to-date, .
“We feel extremely fortunate and deeply responsible for shaping how people will learn in the future,” says Preply co-founder and CEO Kirill Bigai. “Today, we connect people with the world’s best tutors, amplified by AI, bringing learning efficiency to a level that was previously unreachable. This investment will help us to continue to innovate at the intersection of human tutoring and AI, creating opportunities everywhere for people to connect, belong, succeed, and ultimately to progress in their lives, no matter where they are in the world.”
Taken together, 2025–2026 shows a steady flow of capital into European EdTech and tutoring platforms, particularly those applying AI to personalised learning.
In Germany, Knowunity raised €27 million to further develop its AI tutor and support international expansion. The UK has also been active, with MyEdSpace securing €12.8 million to scale its live and blended learning platform.
Smaller but notable rounds include Switzerland-based Evulpo with €9.3 million for digital learning content, France’s Filiz with €6 million to digitise private education operations, Denmark’s Alice raising €4.2 million for personalised study tools, and Italy’s Tutornow securing €1 million to expand accessible tutoring. Norway’s WeWillWrite added €2 million for AI-supported writing education, while Germany’s DigitalErleben (paddy) raised €1 million at pre-Seed stage for AI classroom tools. Finally, Italy-based BRUM closed a €5 million round to digitise driving education.
Across these deals, roughly €40–45 million was deployed into EdTech and tutoring companies during 2025–2026, with AI-enabled personalisation a recurring theme.
Against this backdrop, Preply’s €127 million Series D stands out in scale, exceeding the combined size of many recent European rounds.
“Preply is setting a new standard for personalized education at scale, and the opportunities are virtually limitless,” says Allen Mask, Partner at WestCap and former senior executive at Airbnb, who is joining the Preply board. “Data shows that learners thrive when real human instruction is supported by technology, and in today’s increasingly connected world, there is a real demand for democratizing access to high-quality learning in a modern and effective way. Preply has the market-leading product, the experienced leadership team, and the vision to shape how people communicate globally.”
Founded in 2012 in Barcelona, Preply’s platform connects more than 100,000 tutors with learners in 180 countries, facilitating one-on-one lessons in more than 90 languages. Powered by a combination of human-led instruction, paired with its AI-supported tutoring co-pilot suite, Preply looks to innovate how people learn through flexible and tailored learning experiences.
Their Series D comes at a time when an estimated 1.8 billion people, or roughly one in every four people worldwide, are actively striving to achieve proficiency in a second language, according to global education data platform HolonIQ. It is estimated that the global direct-to-consumer language learning market will reach €193 billion ($227 billion) by 2035, and has already delivered 3X growth over the last five years.
Since its Series C raise, Preply says they have more than tripled their number of bookable tutors and expanded its offering by adding over 40 new languages to the platform. In the last twelve months, the company continued improving EBITDA and became EBITDA positive.
According to Preply’s 2025 Efficiency Study, conducted in partnership with the nonprofit research organization LeanLab Education, revealed that 96% of learners consider learning with a human tutor and engaging in real conversations as essential to their progress, while 97% said these interactions were key to boosting their confidence.
The study also found that learners progressed up to 3x faster with Preply when compared to average benchmarks, with one in three learners moving up a full CEFR level in just 12 weeks.
“Preply’s ability to merge cutting-edge AI with the essential human element of learning is truly unique. We are thrilled to support their journey as they continue to scale from their hub in Barcelona, a city that perfectly mirrors the company’s international and innovative spirit,” says Stephan de Moraes, Managing General Partner at Índico Capital Partners. “Their transition into an EBITDA-positive global leader while fostering such a vibrant tech hub in Southern Europe is a testament to the strength of the team and the massive potential of the language learning market.”
In March 2020, EU-Startups reported on Preply’s €9 million funding round, highlighting its ambition to tutor 50 languages online across nearly 190 countries, with capital focused on platform development and international expansion. This was followed in March 2021 by coverage of a €29.4 million raise, led from its Barcelona and Kyiv bases, aimed at accelerating growth of its online language learning marketplace and strengthening its technology and global reach.
More recently, in 2023, Preply’s former CFO Vicky Van Asbroeck, joined the EU-Startups Summit for a Panel Discusision.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/01/preply-adds-e127-million-in-fresh-capital-as-it-scales-ai-and-tutoring-platform-globally/
