Babbel Named Global Most Innovative Language Learning Company
Fast Company has ranked Babbel amongst the world’s most innovative companies for 2023
Placed #4 in their education category, Babbel leads as the world’s most innovative language company
Fast Company highlights Babbel’s successes in the areas of product, the U.S. market, its B2B offering and efforts towards social causes
Berlin / New York, March 10th 2023: Babbel, the world’s top selling online language learning platform, has been named in Fast Company’s list of World’s Most Innovative Companies 2023. Ranking Babbel #4 in the education category, Fast Company highlighted several successes the company has seen, in particular the expansion of its product offering.
Founded in 2007 as the first online language learning platform in the world; today Babbel is an expert-curated language learning ecosystem, offering self-study lessons, instructor-led live classes, a selection of podcasts and a variety of other language learning content, including cultural bites, games and an online Magazine loaded with content. Last year Babbel also successfully broke into the US market, selling over 1 million subscriptions in H1 alone and overtaking Europe as its strongest market. On top of that, Babbel successfully expanded into the B2B market offering its Babbel for Business product, which now includes a large collection of multinational companies among its customers. The language learning platform also remains committed to social causes, demonstrated by its most recent development of free language courses for Ukrainian refugees. A new interface with lessons for Ukrainian speakers to learn English, German and Polish was created just weeks after the outbreak of the war in 2022, in recognition of the language gap for those who were displaced.
“Since inventing the category in 2007, Babbel has transformed the global learning market. Having learned ourselves, I feel we are again at a pivotal moment, evolving from an app to a platform of various learning experiences”, says Arne Schepker, CEO of Babbel. “I am very proud that Fast Company recognizes our language learning ecosystem expansion and our social efforts for Ukrainian refugees. Today, at the forefront of this industry, we see more exciting opportunities than ever for learners to succeed in reaching their language goals.”
“What a strange and thrilling year it has been to honor this year’s Most Innovative Companies. This year’s list compiles some of the most cutting-edge groundbreakers who are changing our world every single day, from legacy organizations like McDonald’s to upstarts like MrBeast and institutions such as NASA. Babbel, along with everyone else on this list, is doing something completely, uniquely different, yet they all have one thing in common: innovation,” said Fast Company editor-in-chief, Brendan Vaughan.
The World’s Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company’s signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides a firsthand look at the inspiring and innovative efforts of companies across all sectors of the economy. This year’s list highlights the businesses at the forefront of their respective industries, paving the way for the innovations of tomorrow. These companies are setting the standard with some of the greatest accomplishments of the modern world. In addition to the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies, 540 organizations are recognized across 54 sectors and regions.
ABOUT FAST COMPANY
Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.
About Babbel
Driven by the purpose of creating mutual understanding through language, Babbel has been building digital language learning products for consumers and businesses since 2007. The Babbel app helps people connect and communicate across cultures, whether for travel, friendship, or career advancement. Based on a deep knowledge of how we learn languages, Babbel aims to make learners conversational as fast as possible. And it works: Studies from institutions like Michigan State University, Yale University and the City University of New York demonstrate the efficacy of Babbel's language learning methods. Millions of language learners agree.
Babbel's secret sauce is the blend of true expertise, understanding of how humans learn, and the latest technology. Starting with one of 60,000 lessons across 15 languages hand-crafted by experts, the learner experience constantly adapts through behavior analysis to provide high quality interactive content that makes understanding a new language easy, from Spanish to Indonesian.
Because Babbel is for everyone, its team reflects this diversity. Across headquarters in Berlin and New York, a team from more than 80 nationalities represent the backgrounds and perspectives that make humans unique. With over 25 million subscriptions sold and an industry-leading retention rate, Babbel creates genuine connections with learners worldwide. For more information, visit www.babbel.com or download the apps in the App Store or Play Store.
