Based on its trajectory to significant growth in student numbers and revenue in the next 12 months, Language Your Way, an Australian EdTech startup has closed its pre-seed funding round from local angel investors including several successful venture capitalists.
Since its launch in 2015, the Melbourne based company has been on the ground in China developing and testing its game-based online education platform for teaching English to Chinese school students. During that period Language Your Way has reached several key milestones including signing up its first schools and students to the platform and generating initial revenue. LYW initial target areas are the second and third tier provinces with the initial focus specifically in Sichuan province (South-Western region of China).
Language Your Way provides existing English training schools with an online platform that encourages game based learning supplemented with online tutoring. The platform is currently used in multiple English training schools in Sichuan and has recently generated interest from some key players in the local education market.
The funds raised will be used to sign additional schools in the target market and commence the Version 2 of the platform which will feature enhanced gamification and adaptive learning capabilities.
Language Your Way CEO, Pawan Lalwani said “The participation of successful investors and business leaders in our pre-seed round is an endorsement of the LYW business model and the milestones we have achieved to date in a very short time period. With a targetable market of over 200 million Kindergarten to Year 12 students, the growing acceptance of online learning among parents and the rapid growth of broadband Internet access, China offers a significant market for Language Your Way to service their growing needs for English language learning”.
“The next twelve months is shaping up to be a significant and exciting time for our company. We expect Version 2 of our platform to go live in early 2017 and our reach will to grow significantly with a number of schools signing up for the LYW offering.”
“We are excited by the opportunities the Chinese ESL market is offering us. Our regular visits to meet local Chinese partners over the last couple of years have generated a number of high level contacts and strong relationships on the ground which is vital when building a business in China.”
Language Your Way was recently a finalist at Chengdu Innovate, a recipient of an Australia-China Council grant. The edtech startup has accompanied the delegation that visited Chengdu to build bilateral trade and innovation exchange between Australia and China.
The funding announcement follows the launch of the Turnbull government’s landing pad initiative in Shanghai, which is a part of AUD$1.1billion National Innovation and Science Agenda.
