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Duolingo is a foreign language learning service founded in 2011. The platform is designed for users from different countries who can independently choose the necessary language courses. The company applies machine learning to each user.
History
2023: Hole in API leads to data breach of 2.6 million users
At the end of August 2023, it became known that the attackers posted personal data of 2.6 million users of the popular service for learning foreign languages Duolingo on one of the hacker forums.
The cyber attack on the Duolingo platform, whose monthly audience exceeds 74 million people around the world, was first reported in January 2023. Then unknown hackers put up for sale an array of stolen information for $1,500. Cybercriminals had information such as Duolingo user email addresses, their names, logins, phone numbers, and some other data at their disposal.
The investigation showed that the leak was due to an error in the Duolingo software interface (API), which allowed hackers to extract a large amount of information from the service's systems. Duolingo confirmed the theft of information, but stressed that the company's IT infrastructure was not hacked.
 | There was no invasion of our infrastructure. We take data privacy and security seriously and continue to investigate this incident to determine if any further action is necessary to protect our users, Duolingo said. |  |
At the same time, the attackers reduced the price for the stolen information hundreds of times. As of August 2023, they offer everyone to access the array of personal data of 2.6 million Duolingo users for just $2.13. Computer security experts warn that such information can be used to organize personalized phishing attacks and other fraudulent schemes on the Internet. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the error in the Duolingo platform API has not been fixed, and therefore attackers can continue to collect personal data about users.[1]
2021: Going public, estimated at $6.5 billion
On July 28, 2021, Duolingo entered the Nasdaq exchange (ticker - DUOL), thanks to which the foreign language learning service was able to raise $521 million through sales of 5.1 million shares. Of this amount, 3.7 million securities were sold by Duolingo itself and 1.4 million by its early shareholders.
Duolingo set the IPO price at $102 per share, above the originally expected range of $85-95 (it was subsequently raised to $95-100). The listing was organized by banks Goldman Sachs and Allen & Company.
According to Reuters, by the time trading began on July 28, 2021, Duolingo's quotations reached $141.4, an increase of 40% relative to the IPO price, as a result of which the company's market capitalization reached $6.5 billion. By the close of the exchange, the value of securities amounted to $139.01, which is 36% higher than the placement level, and the capitalization turned out to be about $5 billion.
By the end of July 2021, online platform Duolingo offers various courses in 40 languages. The number of active Duolingo clients is about 40 million, the number of downloads of the service's mobile application has exceeded 500 million. The CEO of the company, Louis von Ahn, in a conversation with CNBC, noted that during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, out of the top 20 universities, 17, including Stanford, began to accept the results of Duolingo online tests as proof of English proficiency for foreign students.
According to von Ahn, approximately 45% of revenue and 20% of the platform's user base is in the United States. At the same time, the fastest growing region for the company is Asia, where Duolingo plans to expand its business.
| | The status of a public company will allow us to operate at a higher level and move from the lower leagues to the higher leagues, - said the CEO of Duolingo.[2] | |
2020: Attracting investment from Arctic Ventures
In December 2020, it became known about the investments of the Arctic Ventures fund, created by Anton Alikova, ex-partner of the Swiss investment company Blackfort Capital AG, in Duolingo. The volume of investments is not specified.
It is noted that Duolingo has become another object for Arctic Ventures investments in EdTech companies. The fund's total investments in startups engaged in educational technologies reached $10 million.
| | The pandemic [coronavirus COVID-19 - approx. TAdviser] influenced the growth of EdTech companies, but it is not short-term. For us, edtech is one of the key sectors in which we see even greater prospects due to the growth in the number of users, the introduction of learning technologies into the traditional education system and the need to learn throughout our lives. Therefore, we plan to increase investments in EdTech further, "said Anton Alikov, general partner of the fund. | |
In November 2020, Duolingo announced the raising of $35 million in investments from Durable Capital and General Atlantic funds. According to the results of that round of financing, the service was valued at $2.4 billion.
Attracting a new portion of investment, Duolingo said it expects further growth, including in markets China and other countries. Asia The startup intends to spend money on research and development of new products, as well as expanding the team.
By December 2020, the Duolingo application was downloaded more than 500 million times, and the number of users of the service for the year increased by 30%. Duolingo has been ranked as the most profitable educational app since 2019, according to analysts at Sensor Tower.[3]
Notes
Stock price dynamics
| Ticker company on the exchange: | NDAQ:DUOL |
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