Chatbots are all the rage, and while some are skeptical about their use for customer service, Eggbun Education has been using its chat interface to help its its users learn languages.
The company, founded in 2015, has just secured angel investment of 900 million won (USD $787,000) from Strong Ventures and Primer, along with investors based in Sweden and the UK. Martin Randal, angel investor and CEO of Unifaun, led the round based on the startup’s potential in the language education area.
Eggbun Education is a language learning platform which teaches Korean, Japanese and Chinese through a chat style interface. Users can learn the basics of grammar and vocabulary through chat sessions with “Lanny”, a bot who explains concepts and guides you through the learning process like a teacher would.
For reviewing progress, Lanny gives typing and fill in the blank type exercises that are quick to finish and not overbearing. Users can choose between typing themselves or selecting answers, which could be handy if you’ve only got one hand free while studying on the go. Pronunciation examples, as well as information on culture and etiquette for each country is also included.
Released one year ago, Eggbun Education currently has over 2,500 paid users and is showing encouraging results, with a growth rate of 20% per month.
“This latest investment has laid the foundation for growth in several markets around the world including North America and Southeast Asia, and with it we plan to focus on developing our products further and bolstering our technology,” said Fernando Moon, CEO of Eggbun Education.
The Eggbun Education team
It’s the third investment for the company, with two rounds which both included Primer in 2016. Eggbun Education is also the first Korean company to be selected for 500Startup Distro Dojo and Malaysia’s MaGIC accelerator program.
