Lingokids reaches 78M families with interactive app for preschoolers

Lingokids said its interactive app has become the No. 1 app for preschoolers, reaching more than 78 million families worldwide.

This achievement comes on the back of a transformative year for Lingokids, marked by a comprehensive revamp of its in-app educational content, strategic partnerships with tech giants like Apple and Amazon, and the introduction of successful music and podcasts for children.

Lingokids has positioned itself as a pioneer in shaping the educational journey of children through its Playlearning approach. This method places children at the center of the Lingokids universe, offering thousands of engaging, interactive learning experiences across various mediums, said Cristobal Viedma, CEO of Lingokids, in an interview with GamesBeat.

The early success helped the company raise $40 million in funding in 2021.

The platform spans a wide array of subjects and skills, from traditional science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), art, and music to modern life skills like emotional learning and citizenship, catering to the holistic development of young minds. The Lingokids portfolio includes the Lingokids app, Lingokids Studios, Lingokids Podcasts, and Lingokids Music Publishing.

Lingokids also said that its user based has had a 350% year-over-year increase. The monthly active users for Lingokids have experienced a remarkable threefold year-over-year growth.

Big moves

Lingokids’ success can be attributed to several key moves over the past year:

Redesign of content and curriculum: Lingokids introduced a revamped curriculum, collaboratively crafted by an expert board of educators and Oxford University Press. This curriculum features over 1,000 curated activities, adjusts dynamically to a student’s learning curve, and covers traditional skills like STEM alongside contemporary life skills.

Neurodiverse content for inclusive learning: In 2023, Lingokids introduced special needs education categories within its app, aiming for inclusive learning experiences. The neurodiverse category caters to conditions such as Autism Spectrum Conditions, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, and Dyscalculia.

“We learned something from users that there were a lot of special needs for kids with dyslexia, dyscalculia, or autism,” he said.

Move to freemium model: Lingokids transitioned to a freemium model, offering more content for both paying and free users. This change contributed to a threefold year-over-year increase in install to play.

Partnership with Apple: Lingokids secured an exclusive partnership with Apple, making it the only kids’ app to join hands with the tech giant during WWDC23. The collaboration introduced a premium podcast feature, providing Lingokids premium members exclusive access to the full Lingokids podcast catalog.

Expansion to Amazon Fire tablets: Lingokids expanded its reach by launching on Amazon Fire Tablets in 2023, tapping into a massive audience. The popularity of Fire Tablets among kids made this move pivotal for the app’s growth.

Doubling Down on Audio Content: Recognizing the importance of healthy screen time, Lingokids intensified its focus on audio content for kids on platforms like YouTube and various podcast platforms. The company’s YouTube channel, boasting four million subscribers and two billion views, showcases its prowess in creating engaging original music for children.

“A lot of parents wanted more audio content,” Viedma said.

Origins

Viedma started the company in San Francisco in 2016 with a “playlearning” app. Most of the developers are in Madrid, Spain.

Lingokids is dedicated to supporting parents in their child’s learning journey, giving them a parents portal featuring each child’s progress with weekly reports, curriculum overviews, activity timeline, as well as advice and tips for parents’ everyday lives through its Parents Community.

Viedma’s sister asked him to help his two-year-old niece learn English. He was a gamer with a computer science background and he always wanted to do games. He wanted to move away from passive video experiences, so he started building games for his niece.

His games worked, and the business snowballed. While other education game companies licensed a lot of content, Lingokids didn’t do that.

“We went down this road because we wanted to have full control of experience,” he said. “I realized there are a billion kids worldwide, with half of them already having access to mobile devices. But it was all video based.”

He formed a company and started making games that he thought were fun. They had real gameplay elements, and then added educational elements. They now range from puzzles to endless runner games. The biggest market today is the U.S., while Mexico and Brazil are also large markets.

Growth stage

Now the company has 130 people. Viedma believes the company is on its way to 100 million families, and the company is profitable. The growth has been organic. The company hasn’t had layoffs while many game companies have suffered through them lately. Viedma said he has been conservative about spending money.

“It’s a global business where everybody needs a product like ours,” Viedma said. “As we evolve, we realized that we could do not only language acquisition, but we could do literacy and math. More recently, especially with COVID, there was a lot of interest in skills like empathy, communication, critical thinking, and so on.”

The games have more than 1,600 learning activities, from interactive games to videos to songs across different formats. It ran under a subscription model, where you can access a lot of content from one subscription. Then last summer the company adopted a freemium model.

Viedma sees YouTube as one of its primary competitors going forward. It has a lot of content, but much of it isn’t meant for kids. He thinks parents like having peace of mind about Lingokids’ educational content.

Going forward, the company is reviewing AI and how it can enable its teams to be more efficient at tasks like localization and voiceovers. There’s a podcast on iOS dubbed “Growing up.” The company will create more guided mini courses for this year.

“We want to continue on this path, growing around the world,” Viedma said. “There is still plenty of room for us to grow in the world.”