App by Estonian company Plan B Labs chosen Google Play best of 2018
Drops, a language-learning app by Estonian company Plan B Labs, has been named Google Play's best app of 2018. As the number of downloads broke the 10-million barrier, the company's revenue increased fivefold, the Baltic News Service reports.
Plan B Labs was founded by Hungarians Dániel Farkas and Márk Áron Szulyovszky and supported by Tallinn-based gaming accelerator Game Founders. The company's revenue clocked in at some €335,000 in 2017 and increased substantially in 2018 as the Drops app became popular.
Founding member of Game Founders, Kadri Ugand, told the BNS that Mr Farkas and Mr Szulyovszky came to Estonia in 2012, when the accelerator began its work. "They were among the first ones. They have seen organic growth so far and have not raised any funds beyond our initial investment," Ms Ugand said.
She added that the company had some setbacks at first, and that its initial application failed.
"It did not go the way they had hoped, the original team fell apart. But the founder, Daniel Farkas, really believed in it, kept working on it and sustaining it until he finally succeeded," she said.
Plan B Labs has an international team, and the company does not effectively have an office, though they have a total of 14 people working for them. They are also looking for their first employee in Estonia, Ms Ugand said.
Drops offers a playful and visual way to learn vocabulary of nearly 30 languages. It specialises in vocabulary because its founders don't believe that fluency can be achieved without a teacher—thus Drops isn't looking to replace the latter.
Editor: Dario Cavegn