[Startup story] Langly | Rubik Scale to USA 2024
[Startup story] Langly | Rubik Scale to USA 2024
May 8, 2024
First of all, we would like to know who’s behind the keyboard.
My name is Vitalii Petrosyan. I’m an experienced entrepreneur, mentor, influential board member of StartUp Moldova, and angel investor. I’m also the founder of Langly.
My expertise lies in user value extraction and mobile application development. Over the past 12 years, I’ve launched several products. While not all have been successful, the experience I’ve gained is my greatest asset. Some of our notable successes include language translation products that have been featured several times as apps of the year, best translation apps, best travel apps, etc. As a result, I have an extensive product portfolio with over 40 million downloads, 1 million monthly active users (MAU), and thousands of satisfied customers worldwide.
Tell us more about your startup. What problem do you solve? Who’s your audience? What motivated you to found it?
Learning English has always been a concern of ours. Initially, while developing our previous product, we noticed that about 30% of users were using our app to learn English. Further research and feedback revealed that people were struggling to learn basic words and wasting time on ineffective training available in the market. This led us to find the market gap.
The key insight we gained is that while people may need extra motivation to learn, they never need it to play a game. So we created Langly – a unique platform that integrates the proven Oxford Wide Angle course with AI, gamification, and social-emotional learning techniques to motivate and engage users and provide them with accessible knowledge and certification.
Langly is an innovative solution for mastering Oxford English from A1 to C2 levels for both educational and corporate purposes, with a primary focus on ESL students. Committed to providing the most accessible and engaging English learning product, Langly empowers ESL students for their future, equipping them with essential tools for global communication and access to educational and career opportunities.
Our product addresses education comprehensively, covering theory to practice and tackling global challenges like motivation, certification, and accessibility. With customized, bite-sized lessons and practical exercises, Langly offers a unique tool for mastering essential language skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. It seamlessly integrates into the school curriculum.
I would like to highlight the platform’s own AI assistant, which acts as a personal “pocket” teacher, available anytime and anywhere, guiding students on their learning journey. It tracks and evaluates each student’s progress individually, providing teachers with insights into their strengths, weaknesses, and personalized learning plans. This makes Langly not only beneficial for students but also for teachers, parents, and employers, who can monitor the progress and effectiveness of the learning process. Teachers also will be impressed by the platform’s interactive and consolidated reporting, created with the help of AI.
We aim to democratize English learning, overcoming social, financial, and geographical barriers to make it accessible to all.
We’re curious to learn about your team.
Our team consists of 26 people, and we have assembled a top-notch group of professionals dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of quality and innovation. I would characterize our team as young, enthusiastic, and active individuals, thirsty for new knowledge, achievements, and change, with extensive experience in implementing IT and AI solutions. Our developers are ambitious in their work, curious, and constantly seeking knowledge, never stopping to learn. For example, two of our team members write academic articles that highlight issues and strategies at the intersection of emerging technologies, data analytics, and cybersecurity.
Our team is carefully selected, and we have been able to bring together experts from a wide variety of business sectors, ranging from IT to FMCG, telecommunications, banking and finance, global trading companies, and beyond. The diversity of experience within our team enables us to draw on global best practices from different business areas, including development, management, and sales processes.
What role did mentorship play in your experience, and how did it impact your startup’s growth?
The events we attended thanks to Rubik Hub, along with the discussions we had with peers, mentors, and investors, gave us a fresh perspective on our startup. I think we identified new details that we need to pay attention to when presenting the product, which is crucial because there won’t be another chance to make a first impression. In addition, we gained new contacts and recommendations for our startup as an attractive investment opportunity.
How has the experience in the acceleration program influenced your vision for the future of your startup? What are your next steps and goals as you continue to grow and evolve your startup in the USA market and beyond?
We’ve crystallized our product development vision and go to the US market strategy. Next step is to start piloting Langly in the USA and LATAM with key educational market players such as Innova Schools and Cognita, establish long term relationships with other schools and school operators and achieve USD 1,3M in ARR in the next 12-15 months.
Tag:Langly, startup, startup story
