Benzinga | Nov 29, 2021 08:32AM EST

Chegg To Acquire Busuu For ~$436M

Chegg, Inc. (NYSE:CHGG), the leading student-first connected learning platform, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Busuu, one of the leading language learning platforms which has reached over 120 million learners to date across more than 160 countries. Busuu provides courses in 12 different languages to over 500,000 paying subscribers.

"The addition of Busuu gives Chegg the unique opportunity to expand our business while also adding tremendous value to our existing users," said Dan Rosensweig, President and CEO of Chegg. "It will allow us to drive further into international markets, as well as accelerate Busuu's growth in the US market. Busuu's team, who we have known for many years, are a great cultural fit. They have built an incredible learning service for the serious language learner, and we are excited to have them as part of Chegg."

Founded in 2008 by Bernhard Niesner and Adrian Hilti, with offices in London, UK, and Madrid, Spain[1], Busuu has established a vast and thriving community for language learning, with over 20,000 new registrations daily. Busuu is a content-rich education platform designed for those who are serious about learning a new language. Earlier this year, a study commissioned by Busuu, led by an academic at the University of Maryland, showed that users of Busuu will need on average 13 hours of study in a two-month period to move up one college semester (typically 90-105 hours of instruction).[2] Busuu was also able to demonstrate significant improvements to spoken fluency for its learners. The company offers free and paid subscriptions on a monthly, annual, and bi-annual basis.[3]

Busuu is used by individuals across a broad age range, both in and out of formal education, and also provides corporate language training to hundreds of organizations. Its innovative approach combines self-paced courses developed by an in-house team of language experts with instant feedback from a global community of native speakers.[4] Last year, Busuu added live language tutoring, offering live group lessons and one-to-one sessions with language teachers.[5]

"Busuu has developed its own curriculum, regularly measures its efficacy, and has a community who support each other to reinforce learning. Like Chegg, they understand the value of on demand, self-paced courses, aimed directly at learner needs, and they have shown the ability to deliver at scale. We believe it is an excellent complement to Chegg Services, allowing us to add even more value to our users," said Nathan Schultz, President of Learning Services at Chegg. "It also will enhance our ability to serve users year-round, including adult lifelong learners."

"We are proud and excited to be joining the Chegg family, a world leading edtech company that puts students first. This partnership will give us an opportunity to leverage Chegg's tremendous reach to fuel our expansion, particularly in the US," said Bernhard Niesner, CEO & Co-founder of Busuu. "Our vision is to empower everyone in the world through languages, and we believe our relationship with Chegg will enable us to achieve this goal even faster."

Busuu was the only UK company included in GSV Ventures' 2020 Global Edtech 50, a list of the world's most transformational growth companies in edtech.[6] Last year, Busuu won Language Learning App of the Year at the Edtech Breakthrough Awards.[7]

Chegg expects Busuu's full year 2021 revenue to be approximately $45 million with year-over-year growth of greater than 20%. The $17 billion digital language market is expected to triple in size in the next five years.[8]

Chegg expects to acquire Busuu for approximately $436 million ((euro)385 million) in an all-cash transaction subject to the terms and conditions of the definitive agreement. The acquisition, which was approved by the boards of directors of Chegg and Busuu, is expected to close early in the first quarter of 2022, subject to customary closing conditions.