EnglishCentral provides an interactive, video-based English conversation platform for self-study and one-on-one tutoring, backed by its IntelliSpeech speech-assessment technology and pre-built course modules. The company is widely adopted, used by over 400 universities, schools and corporations across more than 100 countries. Its partnerships include Open English, UOL, NTT Learning and Siwon. EnglishCentral is expanding into the Japanese K-12 market through a strategic distribution deal with Kirihara Shoten to integrate its speaking solutions into high-school textbooks. The move is timed to meet new Japanese university entrance-exam speaking requirements and broader government ICT initiatives in classrooms. Financially, the company received a $1.3M strategic investment from Kirihara Shoten as part of the partnership. EnglishCentral operates a cloud-based English-as-a-second-language platform where users watch and interact with online videos and receive feedback based on their performance. The product emphasizes spoken-English practice using engaging video content and performance-based feedback. The company formed an alliance with NTT Investment Partners that includes a $1 million investment to support expansion in Japan. NTT plans to integrate EnglishCentral into its Virtual English service for broadband customers, extending language training to its user base. EnglishCentral is Massachusetts-based and previously raised $3.48 million in financing led by Google Ventures and Atlas Venture. NTT executive Yasuhiro Mitake highlighted the service as a private, fun way for customers to practice spoken English at home. EnglishCentral provides video tutorials drawn from movies, news clips, and other categories; students watch captioned videos and then record themselves speaking into a microphone. The site uses speech-to-text software to evaluate pronunciation and gives learners grades they can track over time. Video tutorials are free, and the platform also connects students with live tutors, from whom it presumably takes a cut of fees. The company is backed by Google Ventures and Atlas Venture. According to an SEC filing, EnglishCentral recently raised a total of $3.5 million, part of which appears to convert earlier convertible debt into equity. The funding mix and recent activity suggest the company is moving from convertible notes into an equity Series A.

Total raised

$4M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Dec 2016