Spanish edtech startup Lingokids raises $4 million in fresh funding

Edtech startup Lingokids has raised $4 million from Holtzbrinck Ventures and JME Ventures Capital with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Sabadell Venture Capital, Big Sur Ventures, and announced a new a distribution agreement with Oxford University Press.

The Spanish-founded company, formerly known as Monkimun and now based in San Francisco, provides a subscription service for live language tutoring lessons for at-home learning. The funds will be used to expand its product and grow in new markets. It currently has two million families using the service and is aiming for 15 million by 2018.

“Rather than creating one-off apps that only teach a few words and phrases, with Lingokids we’ve created a Netflix experience in education with games, songs, videos and audiobooks in a seamless stream of recommendations combined with live tutoring lessons with native educators,” said CEO Cristobal Viedma,

Alongside the investment, the company has a signed a deal with Oxford University Press to make some of its content available with Lingokids, including books for schools.

“Our use of Lingokids will bring a fresh dimension to our course materials and help to support our syllabus. This new phase in our collaboration will extend the child’s exposure to English to the home,” said Joseph Noble, the publisher’s head of partnerships.