Duolingo Names Gillian Munson to Board of Directors

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Duolingo, the world's most popular language-learning platform, today announced that Gillian Munson has joined its Board of Directors as an independent board member.

"Since Duolingo's launch seven years ago, we have maintained a strong focus on staying true to our mission of providing free and accessible education while building a sustainable business," said Luis von Ahn, CEO and co-founder of Duolingo. "As we look ahead to our goals for Duolingo's business growth in the coming months and years, we are very fortunate to have Gillian Munson as our first independent board member. She brings a wealth of experience and expertise that will be instrumental in helping us continue to grow our business."

Munson brings more than 25 years of corporate experience in technology and finance. She was most recently the Chief Financial Officer of XO Group (parent company of The Knot), which she and her team sold in late 2018. Prior to that, Munson worked as Managing Director of Allen & Company, Vice President of Business Development at Symbol Technologies and Executive Director of Equity Research at Morgan Stanley. She is currently a Partner at Union Square Ventures, a New York City-based venture capital firm, and serves as an Independent Director and Audit Chair at Phreesia.

"I view Duolingo as one of the most transformative companies in education, and am impressed with how far they have come in making high-quality education accessible worldwide," Munson said. "I am delighted to join the Board of Duolingo as its first independent member, and look forward to working with Luis and the amazing Duolingo team in pursuit of the company's goals."

With more than 300 million total learners, Duolingo is the largest language-learning platform and most downloaded education app worldwide. Learners can choose from 91 total courses across more than 30 distinct languages ? from the world's largest languages like English, Spanish and Arabic to smaller, endangered languages such as Irish, Hawaiian and Navajo.

Duolingo has raised $108.3 million in venture capital and is currently valued at $700 million. Recently, the company was named to Forbes' 2019 list of Next Billion-Dollar Startups, Fortune's 2019 Change the World list and CNBC's 2018 and 2019 Disruptor 50 lists.

About Duolingo

Duolingo is the most popular language-learning platform and the most downloaded education app worldwide, with more than 300 million total learners. The company's mission is to make education free and accessible to all. Duolingo offers 91 total courses across over 30 distinct languages, and is available on iOS, Android, and Web at www.duolingo.com. The company has raised more than $108 million in venture capital from investors including CapitalG, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, Union Square Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Drive Capital, Ashton Kutcher, and Tim Ferriss.

SOURCE Duolingo