Language education startup Fluentify raises $410,000 in funding

Fluentify, a London-based videoconferencing language learning platform founded last year, has closed a $410,000 angel investment, led by Stefano Marsaglia, former chairman of Barclays global financial institutions group and current co-head of Mediobanca investment bank. The new funding brings the startup’s total raised to date to $500,000. The webcam-based language learning marketplace, which aims to connects people who want to brush up their skills in a particular language with native speakers from around the world, allows any native speaker to become a ‘fluentifier’ language tutor — provided they pass its vetting procedure. The aim is to offer a broad pool of potential tutors who bring other professional skills with them, allowing fluentify users to find tutors who also work in particular professions to help them brush up on specialist vocab, for instance. That’s one way the platform says it’s setting itself apart from the myriad other language learning marketplaces already out there.