Duolingo Doubles Down on Delight with Acquisition of Music Gaming Startup NextBeat’s Innovative Team
London-based team brings deep expertise in music games, licensing, and interactive design
PITTSBURGH, Aug. 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Duolingo, Inc. (Nasdaq: DUOL), the world’s leading mobile learning platform, announced today it has acquired the team behind NextBeat, a London-based music gaming startup known for blending world-class music licensing with engaging mobile gameplay. With this move, Duolingo is investing in making its Music course as fun and joyful as the best mobile games in the market.
“Learning should be just as engaging as playing a great game, whether you’re practicing a new language or playing a favorite song,” said Bob Meese, Chief Business Officer at Duolingo. “This is a strategic bet on talent. The NextBeat team brings deep mobile gaming and music industry expertise, which will make our Music course and the entire Duolingo platform more delightful, immersive, and effective.”
The acquisition of NextBeat’s team brings twenty-three world-class experts in areas such as game design, user retention and monetization, sound design, and music licensing. Their expertise will power the next chapter of Duolingo’s gamified learning experiences, with a focus on building upon Duolingo’s Music course. The move also establishes Duolingo’s first official presence in the UK, a hub of creativity and talent.
“From day one, it was clear that Duolingo and NextBeat share the same values: putting learners first, obsessing over great design, and never taking ourselves too seriously,” said Simon Hade, CEO of NextBeat. “Joining forces means we can bring our passion for music and play to a platform that is redefining how people learn.”
With millions of learners already using Duolingo Music since its beta launch, this acquisition signals Duolingo’s ambition to make music education more engaging and accessible with a product that is both playful and effective.
About Duolingo
Duolingo is the leading mobile learning platform globally. Its flagship app has organically become the world's most popular way to learn languages and the top-grossing app in the Education category on both Google Play and the Apple App Store. With technology at the core of everything it does, Duolingo has consistently invested to provide learners with a fun, engaging, and effective learning experience while remaining committed to its mission to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available.
About NextBeat
NextBeat is a London-based music-first gaming studio founded by serial entrepreneurs Simon Hade, Olly Barnes & Joe Adams. The company is best known for the hit games Beatstar and Country Star, which were spun out of Space Ape Games upon its acquisition by mobile gaming giant Supercell. The hit mobile rhythm games reached over 100 million downloads and generated nearly $200 million in revenue. NextBeat built a team of experts across game design, licensing, and creative tech to explore new interactive experiences across gaming, education, and wellness.
Contact:
Monica Earle,
