IMPULSE - Babbel: Pioneer of the App Economy & German Start-up Success Story

Maybe you’ve already used it to learn a new language yourself or to improve your foreign language know-how for your next holiday: we’re talking about Babbel, the number one language learning app in the world.

One of the co-founders of Babbel is KIT alumnus Thomas Holl. In 2007, five years after graduating in computer science from KIT and in the same year that Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone, he and his three co-founders laid the foundation in Berlin for what is now a global leader in technology-based language learning.

A lot has happened since the company was founded over 15 years ago: Thomas kept changing roles and responsibilities, from CSO to CTO to building the US presence in Manhattan, New York, which is now Babbel’s largest market. He and his team grew the company to over 1,000 employees, from a pure web app to a platform for language learning experiences with 14 languages, podcasts, games and additional live classes. More than 160 didacticians are currently developing lessons and learning paths for the app.

This growth was only possible because Babbel benefited from technological changes, first web technologies and later mobile devices. With generative AI, the company is now in a new technological phase that enables the implementation of new ideas that were not possible before.

In his keynote speech, Thomas will give a behind-the-scenes look at Babbel and talk about the learnings from his very exciting entrepreneurial journey and how they can be applied to technical and innovative change.