Ukrainian edtech marketplace Preply has raised $150 million in funding at a $1.2 billion valuation, joining the global unicorn club. The company plans to allocate the new capital primarily toward AI-driven product development, expanding its engineering team, and strengthening its presence in key international markets.
The online language-learning platform Preply, founded by Ukrainians Kyrylo Bigai, Dmytro Voloshyn, and Serhii Lukianov, announced the investment round in January 2026. As a result, the company’s valuation reached $1.2 billion, making Preply the eighth Ukrainian unicorn.
The company operates in the global language-learning market and positions itself not only as an edtech platform but also as an international marketplace with a scalable digital model. According to Preply co-founder Kyrylo Bigai, the key priority following the funding round will be the development of artificial intelligence solutions, with the majority of the newly raised capital allocated to AI initiatives.
Today, the platform hosts more than 100,000 tutors teaching over 90 languages, while the number of active learners already reaches millions, according to the company. Since its launch, more than 100 million lessons have been conducted on the platform. Over the past three years, the number of tutors has tripled.
Preply also reports strong operational performance. The company is profitable, and according to Bigai, its key metrics exceed the “Rule of 40,” a benchmark widely used by investors in technology companies. This indicates a balance between rapid growth and profitability control.
The company believes it has the potential to scale its business by 10–20 times. The main drivers of this growth are expected to include strengthening the global brand, improving the product, and deeper integration of AI across all stages of the learning process — from tutor matching to error analysis, personalized exercises, and language practice with AI avatars.
Preply is already present in 180 countries, with the United States and Europe remaining its primary markets for growth. At the same time, the company sees significant long-term potential in Asia and the Middle East. According to Bigai, about 1.8 billion people worldwide are interested in learning languages, creating a large global market for further expansion.
Another important growth direction is the B2B segment, which includes a corporate language-learning platform. Although its share currently remains smaller than the consumer segment, B2B growth rates have recently outpaced B2C, which could further increase the company’s attractiveness to investors.
Another indicator of the company’s maturity is its M&A activity. Over the past few years, Preply has completed two small tuck-in acquisitions aimed at strengthening its technological capabilities. While these deals had limited direct impact on revenue or user growth, they helped enhance the company’s product and engineering capabilities.
Following the new investment round, Preply plans to hire more than 100 engineers in the coming years. According to Bigai, nearly all of the company’s engineering resources are currently focused on AI development. Artificial intelligence is already used across the platform for matching tutors and students, marketing optimization, lesson analysis, progress tracking, and generating learning exercises.
Despite achieving unicorn status, Preply does not plan to pursue an IPO in the near term. The company states that it intends to maintain organic growth, continue product innovation, and prepare the business for potential public market entry in the future.
As a result, Preply is entering a new stage of development not merely as a fast-growing Ukrainian startup but as a global technology platform deploying significant investment capital to scale in the international education market and develop AI-powered learning solutions.
