Suzanne Ashman, a partner at investment firm LocalGlobe – an investor in Lingumi– reflects on the firm’s latest investment in the UK EdTech space.
There are 1.5 billion people learning English today, that’s 10x more than are learning French, Chinese, Spanish, German, Italian and Japanese combined.
The rise of global communication — the dominance of the Internet; the absolute ubiquity of feature and smartphones; and the growth of social media — has made English the world’s common language. Non-native speakers now far outnumber native speakers.
If English is the ‘operating system’ of global conversation, it’s more open Android, than closed iOS. It is being shaped by a billion new users across the world.
The British Council forecasts at least double digit growth — in some cases up to 40% — in demand for English in Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil and Mexico, as well as the large African countries, particularly Nigeria, Ethiopia and Sudan....