Ringle.AI

About Ringle.AI

Ringle English Education Service Co., Ltd., operating as Ringle, is a South Korea-based EdTech company founded in 2015 by Stanford MBA graduates Seunghoon (Hoon) Lee and Sungpah Lee. The founders' journey began at Stanford, where they personally experienced the challenges of being non-native English speakers in a demanding academic environment. This first-hand experience became the catalyst for Ringle, which they initially built in their dorms—Sungpah Lee taught himself to code while Seunghoon Lee developed lesson materials. Seunghoon Lee's background as a consultant at Boston Consulting Group and Sungpah Lee's experience in electrical engineering and business provided a strong foundation for the venture.

The company provides a platform for one-on-one online English tutoring, connecting adult learners, professionals, and students with tutors from prestigious universities in the US and UK. Ringle has established a niche by focusing on advanced and professional English, offering specialized tracks for business English, interview preparation, and resume editing. Clients include employees from global companies such as Google, Amazon, and Samsung Electronics. The business model is rooted in providing high-quality, live video lessons. Revenue is generated from users purchasing lesson packages and subscriptions. The firm has successfully raised $26.9 million over four funding rounds, including a significant $18 million Series A in 2021, which valued the company at $90 million.

Ringle's service is distinguished by its pool of over 1,000 rigorously vetted tutors and more than 900 proprietary lesson plans covering current events and business topics. A key feature is 'Ringle Docs,' a tool allowing tutors to provide real-time corrections and edits during a lesson. Post-lesson, the platform delivers comprehensive AI-based feedback. This 'Ringle AI Analysis' assesses the user's speech pace, vocabulary complexity, accuracy, and fluency, and provides a transcript of the session. More recently, Ringle introduced the 'AI Tutor,' an evolution of its 'AI Speaking Partner,' which allows users to practice through role-playing and discussion modules, and 'Ringle AI Diagnostics,' a tool for corporate clients to assess employee language skills.