Aarhus, Denmark-based Swap Language, a language training provider, announced on Thursday that it has secured €2M in a Seed round of funding led by Amsterdam-based Mediahuis Ventures and Helsinki-based Sparkmind.VC.
Swap Language plans to use the funds to expand its services into the German market. The company has already initiated a pilot programme in the region and aims to add more languages to its platform.
Additionally, the company intends to work towards its ultimate goal of developing a fully-fledged AI teacher capable of replacing human teachers in teaching both speaking and writing skills.
What does Swap Language solve?
It is estimated that the worker shortage will cost businesses worldwide €8T by 2030.
During the same period, skilled migrants relocating to the EU will increase by 134 per cent.
According to a recent study, 60 per cent of international employees believe learning the local language is the most important skill for succeeding in their new workplace.
As a result, it plays a crucial role in retaining highly skilled migrants.
Swap Language, a Danish-based enterprise language training provider, aims to help international employees integrate and feel a sense of belonging within their organisation and new home through its blended learning platform.
“Highly skilled international employees are ambitious and work for the highest paced, demanding enterprises. They need solutions which are flexible, engaging, and which use the newest technology to help them develop language skills that they can apply both in their jobs and while settling in their new host country. While the B2C market has some amazing players like Duolingo, the B2B language training market is old and dominated by traditional language schools,” says Nichlas Walsted, CEO of Swap Language.
Swap Language: Making language learning fun
Founded in 2017, Swap Language uses a combination of engaging video content, AI-generated exercises, and real-life online speaking lessons to help international employees reach fluency in and outside the workplace.
Based on multi-tenant architecture, the company’s second generation platform is the first freemium enterprise language training platform in the market.
The platform enables companies to onboard international employees into their language learning community at no cost, giving them direct access to hundreds of free on-demand language lessons and quizzes, as well as the possibility to practise with local colleagues.
The Investors
Amsterdam-based Mediahuis Ventures (MHV) is the Venture Capital arm of international media group Mediahuis.
As a lead investor in European companies between Series Seed and Series B, MHV is on a mission to support founders who are changing the way we learn and work by investing in companies that make the flow of information accessible and empowering.
Their portfolio includes EdTech and Future of Work companies such as Lepaya, Perlego, Tomorrow’s University, and Settly.
Tea Elezi, EdTech Lead at Mediahuis Ventures, says, “We are proud to support Swap Language on their mission to make language learning within organisations more inclusive, efficient, and adaptable, ultimately fostering a global community where language is no longer a barrier but a bridge to success By harnessing the power of AI teachers, Swap Language is poised to revolutionise the way people acquire language skills, empowering them to connect and integrate seamlessly into their professional and social environments.”
Sparkmind.vc is the first Nordic venture capital company exclusively focused on the learning sector. The VC invests from Pre-Seed to Series A stages in teams transforming how the world learns.
Since the launch of their first fund in 2020, Sparkmind has invested in more than 20 companies, including Kide Science, Fuzu, Oneday, and Female Invest.
Vesa Laakso, Founding Partner of Sparkmind.vc, says, “We’re excited about truly transformative educational technologies, and Swap Language caught our attention because their mission driven founding team and solution crafted with a deep understanding of global workforce challenges. We believe that their unique vision for fostering genuine human connections through language will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of international workplaces.”
