Language app Babbel translates European success to US market

Markus Witte, co-founder and CEO of the Berlin-based language learning app company Babbel, poses in this undated handout picture received in Berlin, Germany February 20, 2018. Marc Beckmann/Babbel/handout via REUTERS

BERLIN: It might seem a tall order to persuade people to spend as much to learn a language on their smartphone as it costs to subscribe to a music streaming or video-on-demand service.

But Berlin-based startup Babbel says that, after 10 years in business, it has finally cracked the US market, where sales more than doubled last year and are on track soon to eclipse its home market in central Europe.