Duolingo Acquires Hobbes Studio in Detroit to Enhance User Engagement

TapTechNews July 10th news, Duolingo announced in a public notice that it had acquired Hobbes, an animation and motion design studio located in Detroit, on July 1. The specific amount was not disclosed. The company said this move aims to increase user engagement and retain users.

It is worth noting that Duolingo successfully acquired another design and animation studio, Gunner, located in Detroit in 2022, and this company belongs to Hobbes.

According to the introduction, the Hobbes team will continue to stay in Detroit, and their office is located just across from Duolingo's Detroit office, and its area is almost twice that of the latter. After the acquisition is completed, Duolingo's existing design team will add 12 Hobbes employees.

Ryan Sims, Duolingo's chief design officer, said: Design is a key part of Duolingo's success, especially our use of character illustrations and animations.

Currently, nearly 80% of Duolingo's total revenue comes from 7.4 million paying users. According to the latest financial report, Duolingo's total revenue in the first fiscal quarter (as of March 31, 2024) was 167.6 million US dollars (about 1.221 billion Chinese yuan currently), a year-on-year increase of 45%; the net income was 26.956 million US dollars (TapTechNews note: about 196 million Chinese yuan currently), compared with a loss of 2.582 million US dollars in the same period last year.

By the end of this quarter, the total number of Duolingo's paying users reached 7.4 million, a 54% increase from the same period last year; the daily active users (DAUs) were 31.4 million, a 54% increase from the same period last year.