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Print Edition StoriesThursday, October 1, 2009
Google Ventures, Atlas back language startup EnglishCentral
By Galen Moore
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Google Ventures, the venture arm of Google Inc., and Atlas Venture have invested an undisclosed amount in an early-stage Boston-area startup aimed at the English language-learning market in Asia.
With offices in Lexington and Tokyo, EnglishCentral Inc. has taken a seed-stage investment from Google Ventures and Waltham-based Atlas Venture, the company announced in a press release picked up by Japanese online news outlets. Richard Miner, Google Ventures’ Cambridge-based partner, declined to comment on the announcement.
EnglishCentral founder and CEO Alan Schwartz said the company aims to provide 24/7 English-language practice for native Japanese speakers. “We describe ourselves as YouTube meets Rosetta Stone meets Guitar Hero,” he said. Revenue will come from subscriptions, but the company will offer a free introductory service on a freemium model.
The company hopes to expand throughout Asia and the rest of the world, but it is too early now to outline those plans, Schwartz said.
Schwartz, formerly an executive at SpeechWorks, became vice president for the Asia-Pacific region at Nuance Communications Inc. after the Burlington-based speech recognition software maker acquired the company. He has founded EnglishCentral with Japanese media entrepreneur Masayasu Morita of Hitomedia, and Japanese software engineer Hirofumi Matsumura, a former Microsoft employee.
A demo on EnglishCentral’s website lets students follow along with a video of President Barack Obama’s recent health-care speech to Congress, accompanied by subtitles, pre-recorded pronunciation help, and buttons that navigate the recording and adjust its speed.
At a prompt, users recite the phrases they’ve just watched and studied, like, “Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together.” The software grades the student and allows playback of the recitation he or she has just recorded.
EnglishCentral is the third web startup to launch during the past two years in a growing cluster of Boston-area speech-based language-learning companies aimed at the Asian market. 8D World Inc. launched last year with a speech-based online fantasy game. LangoLAB, which provides online video captioning and sharing for language learners, launched in Boston this summer as part of the TechStars incubator program.
EnglishCentral’s release named Miner and Atlas partner Axel Bichara as leading the investment for their respective firms.
“There’s a huge existing market in the Far East where practice is what’s missing,” Bichara said.
Announced earlier this year, Google Ventures has offices in Cambridge and California. With EnglishCentral, the corporate venture initiative has made at least five investments, including stealthy, Boston-based VigLink Inc., reported in June, and New Hampshire-based Adimab Inc., announced this morning.
Google Ventures is reported to be investing from a $100 million fund.
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