Livemocha Secures $6 Million in Venture Capital Series A Funding Led by Maveron

Livemocha Secures $6 Million in Venture Capital Series A Funding Led by Maveron

January 15, 2008

Printer Friendly

Email Story

Press Release provided by PR Newswire

Funding to Accelerate Popular Language Learning Site's Functionality and Growth

[8-January-2008]

SEATTLE, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Livemocha, a next generation language learning company, today announced it has secured $6 million in funding led by Maveron LLC. Livemocha plans to use the funding to accelerate the site's functionality, global appeal and growth. Livemocha addresses a $20 billion worldwide market for language learning fueled by rapid globalization, immigration and travel.

"We are thrilled to have Livemocha as part of our portfolio. The company's interactive platform changes the language learning paradigm -- empowering a global community of users to learn a new language in an engaging, mutually reinforcing and low cost way," said Debra Somberg, general partner at Maveron. "With Livemocha's platform already generating buzz around the globe, the site is positioned to become the premier international brand for conversational language learning."

Livemocha is redefining the language learning market by integrating rich dynamic online instructional content with a social network of native language speakers. Livemocha provides instructional content for English, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, French and German. Users of the site can not only learn these popular languages but also build true speaking and writing proficiency with the help of native language speakers within the Livemocha community. Livemocha's platform gives users the type of multicultural language learning experience that was previously possible only by traveling abroad.

Having publicly launched at DEMOfall in September 2007, Livemocha has already demonstrated strong growth in the online education market with over 130,000 community members representing over 200 countries who through their daily interactions are generating over 25 million pageviews a month. The Livemocha site is now available in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish making it more accessible to Chinese and Spanish speaking users all over the world.

"As a local venture capital firm with significant experience in both the online education and consumer markets, we are pleased to have support from Maveron," said Livemocha CEO Shirish Nadkarni. "We look forward to leveraging Maveron's expertise and relationships to seek new partnership opportunities and accelerate our growth."

About Livemocha

Livemocha, a Seattle based start-up is redefining the language learning market through the introduction of a language 2.0 platform that integrates rich dynamic online instructional content with a social network of native language speakers. Unlike CDs and books that often gather dust, Livemocha helps users gain true conversational proficiency and deeper cultural knowledge by allowing them to tap into the native language expertise of Livemocha's global network of language learners.

About Maveron

Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Maveron LLC is a leading consumer-focused venture capital firm. Founded in 1998 by Howard Schultz and Dan Levitan, Maveron's mission is to partner with entrepreneurs in the creation of extraordinary companies across the Consumer Continuum(TM) in order to generate outstanding financial returns. Representative Maveron investments include fast-growing classic consumer companies such as Potbelly Sandwich Works and Eos Airlines, businesses that use technology to deliver goods and services directly to consumers such as eBay and Capella University, and companies like Allconnect and Video Egg, which supply technology and services to consumer-facing businesses. For more information about Maveron, visit http://www.maveron.com.

Media Contact:
Melissa Smolensky
Porter Novelli
512-423-3382 (cell)
melissa.smolensky@porternovelli.com

SOURCE Livemocha

Bookmark/Search this post with: