10 Years of Mondly | 10 Stories – Story 8: The Sum of Our Best

“Shall we meet for lunch?”

Serendipity.

When Ebrahim Matthews, SVP Product at Pearson, emailed to enquire about collaborating, Alex happened to be on a three-month trip to London — and staying in the very building Ebrahim suggested for lunch.

“We had a chat and towards the end of the lunch, I said, hey, we’d like to talk about buying your company. The rest is history,” remembers Ebrahim.

Top scorers

Ebrahim had been given an important task.

“We didn’t have a specific self-learner, consumer-grade solution that was compelling — that was feature rich and could excite users,” explains Pearson ELL President, Gio Giovannelli.

So Ebrahim started the search.

“We were looking for an app with multiple languages, with an established user base to demonstrate product-market fit, and that was affordable”, Ebrahim recalls.

“My team and I developed a scorecard, and Mondly flew to the top”.

The perfect pairing

One of the main things that drew Pearson to Mondly was how their technology had opened up language learning by removing the need to go through English.

“What struck me,” remembers Gian Paolo Perrucci, Chief Technology Officer, ELL at Pearson, “was the ability to learn a language from any language — I wasn’t expecting that variety or that huge list of combinations”.

“That was a key differentiator,” agrees Ebrahim. “The user interface stood out too, and they had some of the most advanced features of any language app, like the chatbot. They also had a fledgling enterprise offering — MondlyWORKS”.

Citizens of the world

For the Mondly founders, partnering with Pearson opened up new ways to achieve their global ambitions.

“I really felt like we had an opportunity to jump ahead,” explains Co-Founder Alex Iliescu.

“Instead of growing organically and it taking five or ten more years to meet our goals, we could have a better chance of becoming number one in what we do.

“If we join this company, we will all grow and develop — learn what it means to be a citizen of the world”, finishes Alex.

Let’s talk about it

Just as conversation had been such a key focus within the Mondly product, it was central to the partnership process too.

“It all started with conversation,” recalls Gio. “Since the beginning there’s been a very candid, open relationship between me, Alex, and Tudor.

“We didn’t have intermediaries or banks. Instead, we talked a lot and tried to see whether we had a similar way of looking at things that could guarantee that, even after the deal, we could stand together”.

Signing on the dotted line

In April 2022, the acquisition was finalized.

In just over eight years since its launch, Mondly had gone from a team of four working in one room to being part of the world’s leading learning company with a team of 40 and more than 100 million app downloads.

The exciting new partnership and complementary strengths each party brought to it was reflected in a new name: Mondly by Pearson.

Strength in difference

“There’s always a different culture between a big company and a startup,” explains Gio. “and you don’t have to oppose one and the other — it’s just making the most of the two.

“We learned as much, if not more, from Mondly, as they learned from us during this journey. It’s the combination of the two that is so very rich”, he finishes.

It was a sentiment that reflected how the Mondly team already worked.

“Let’s say I’m in a situation and it’s not one of my strengths, my colleague can help me out,” explains Adrian Raduca, Mondly System Admin Coordinator.

“No matter my own weaknesses, within the team itself we can level ourselves up and bring it up a notch. That’s how we deliver best in class. That’s how we deliver a world-class product.

“Together, we’re the sum of our best.”

Building together

Combining Pearson’s academic focus and advanced content with Mondly’s casual, accessible approach meant that together, Mondly and Pearson could meet the full spectrum of learners’ needs.

“We brought the experience of digital and having a consumer product, and Pearson brought their expertise in learning science, so it’s a good mix,” says Tudor.

“The Mondly product is much more mature now,” he continues, “it takes you from absolute beginner through to advanced B2/C1 level for some languages.”

Keep talking

The conversations that started such an important partnership have continued.

“I’ve met with Alex and Tudor every week since the acquisition,” says Gio. “We’ve brought them into conversations that have nothing to do with Mondly, so they could contribute and we could learn from their culture and way of looking at things.”

“I think we’ve got it right,” he continues “we’ve managed to maintain our different way of looking at things, and we see that as a richness.”

By combining their strengths, both Mondly and Pearson can better deliver on their mission to help people make progress in their lives through access to better learning.

THE MILESTONES 

• MondlyWORKS launched (2019)
• Mondly joins Pearson (Apr 2022)
• Mondly named a top 10 education app by Apple (Aug 2022)
• 44 employees (Sept 2022)
• Mondly launches new progress tests by Pearson (Oct 2022)