Ukraine’s Diligent Capital Partners Hails Preply’s Achievement of Unicorn Status

January 21, 2026
  • Diligent Capital Partners announces participation in the latest funding round for
    Preply, the Fast-Growing online language learning platform
  • Series D funding round confirms Preply’s status as a unicorn – a company valued at
    over $1 billion
  • Underscores DCP’s commitment to support Ukrainian entrepreneurs at home and
    abroad

Kyiv, Ukraine – January 21st, 2026 – Diligent Capital Partners, a leading mid-market private
equity firm, today announces its participation in the latest funding round for Preply.com, the
fast-growing multinational language learning platform. The deal emphasises Diligent Capital
Partners’ commitment to both strengthening the Ukrainian economy and supporting
Ukrainian entrepreneurs both domestically and abroad.

Diligent Capital was one of the earliest investors in the company, which was founded by
Ukrainian entrepreneurs Kirill Bigai and Dmytro Voloshyn in 2012, and has participated from
2013 onwards in every key funding round to date, investing a total of >$18 million.
The latest fundraising round (Series D) was carried out at a valuation of $1.2 billion, making
the company one of a handful of Ukrainian unicorns, defined as tech startups with valuations
over $1 billion. A pioneer in online language learning, Preply’s platform connects more than
100,000 tutors with learners in 180 countries, facilitating one-on-one lessons in more than 90
languages. Powered by a unique combination of human-led instruction and its AI-supported
tutoring co-pilot suite, Preply.com is redefining how people learn through high-quality,
flexible, and tailored learning experiences designed to drive real progress with every lesson.

DCP’s participation in this latest funding round demonstrates its ability to identify
opportunities to back promising technology companies at a very early stage and see them
through to maturity. It is also a reminder of DCP’s ability to mobilise private-sector capital
entrusted to it by mainly Ukrainian founders.

DCP Co-Managing Partner, Dan Pasko, said today: “We congratulate Preply on becoming a
tech unicorn – now worth 1.2 billion dollars – and we are delighted to announce that we are
taking part in the latest funding round. We have been with Preply from the start. We have
invested in every funding round since 2013, and Preply has delivered a huge increase in value.
But most of all, we love what Preply is doing. It has gone from a start-up to a leading global
education tech platform, providing online language tutoring to millions of people. It shows
the crucial role of finance – enabling entrepreneurs to build and scale good ideas into
successful businesses.”

Kirill Bigai said: “We are delighted that DCP is again helping to finance Preply’s future. With
this capital, we will strengthen our commitment to delivering the world’s most personalized
learning experiences at scale. We feel a deep responsibility for how people will learn in the
future.”

ABOUT DILIGENT CAPITAL PARTNERS
Diligent Capital Partners is a mid-market private equity firm created to mobilise both private
and public capital to support Ukrainian entrepreneurs and businesses at home and abroad.
Our aim is to catalyse the development of a healthy and dynamic corporate and
financing ecosystem. With a combination of proven international expertise and deep local
knowledge, our firm is uniquely positioned to seek out compelling investment opportunities.
https://diligent.capital/ of Ukraine.

ABOUT PREPLY
Preply is the human-led, AI-enabled language learning platform building the future of
learning. With a global network of more than 100,000 tutors teaching over 90 languages, we
are the category leader and the largest online marketplace that brings human tutors together
with learners from 180 countries, supporting them with always-on, AI-powered tools to
deliver real progress with every lesson.

Our mission is to create life-changing learning experiences by powering real progress through
personalized learning, motivation, and high-quality tutoring at scale. We believe that we are
uniquely positioned to become the company that understands human learning better than
anyone else on the planet.

For more information, visit Preply.com

Contacts for further information:
For Diligent Capital
Garfield Advisory
Andrew Garfield + 44 7974982337 and Jonathan Charles + 44 7770 541087

For Preply
Lauren Doyle
Global PR & Communications, Preply
Lauren.Doyle@preply.com