Would you like to learn French while playing games? Or perhaps Valyrian, the language from Game of Thrones?

That's why Duolingo was created, the app developed by Luis Von Ahn, the Guatemalan scientist who invented Captcha, together with a university colleague. The app has had 600 million downloads to date and has 15 million active users per day, but 10 years after its founding, it needs to figure out how to become profitable.

What is the main appeal of Duolingo? Its interface is fun and presents learning as a game. And It is used by a wide range of users, from Americans learning the basics of the language of the country they are traveling to, to Syrian refugees in Stockholm learning Swedish. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the number of people interested in learning Ukrainian on Duolingo multiplied in Europe so they could help refugees from the war. Half of its users are located outside the US.

Duolingo is based on a massive machine-learning system that compiles and analyzes data from nearly a billion daily user interactions, refining and customizing courses. The company went public in 2021, and by the end of November it had 500 employees and a market capitalization of US$2.7 billion.

Duolingo has focused on growth rather than profitability, and it has worked. It dominates the language app category, accounting for two-thirds of downloads and usage, according to Sensor Tower. Most users use the free, ad-supported version of the app.

A small percentage opt for the plus version, which costs US$12.99 per month in the US.

The philosophy behind Duolingo is to develop the best education in the world and make it universally accessible. This year, it launched two apps: Duolingo ABC, for teaching reading, and Duolingo Math, for teaching basic math operations. Under this philosophy, the idea is to focus on volume, so that the small percentage of users who opt for the plus version, if maintained, becomes increasingly significant. In principle, it seems to have worked: paid subscribers have tripled since the beginning of the pandemic, totaling 3.7 million users. It is estimated that the company's revenue could exceed US$365 million this year. The company has other revenue-generating mechanisms, such as in-app sales and English tests. Will this be enough to achieve profitability? It is too early to say, but many analysts believe the company still has a lot of potential.

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