Age of Learning and Rakuten Announce Joint Venture: Age of Learning Japan Co., Ltd.

New Company Will Accelerate Growth of ABCmouse English to Meet Strong Demand for Children’s English Language Learning in Japan

LOS ANGELES & TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Age of Learning, Inc., the leading edtech company for young learners and creator of ABCmouse Early Learning Academy, and Rakuten Group, Inc., Japan’s leading e-commerce company and a global leader in internet services that empower individuals, communities, businesses, and society, today announced they have agreed to form the joint venture Age of Learning Japan Co., Ltd. Building on Age of Learning and Rakuten’s existing relationship, the new company will accelerate the growth of ABCmouse English, known as “Rakuten ABCmouse” in Japan, to serve families across the country.

Designed by Age of Learning’s language learning experts and grounded in learning science, ABCmouse English teaches English to young children through engaging interactive activities. The program, which uses a unique, research-proven approach to language learning, helps children build English communication skills with 260 sequenced lessons and more than 6,000 original videos, games, books, and songs. Key features of ABCmouse English include:

• An innovative application of speech recognition technology that enables children to improve pronunciation by comparing to a native speaker and working to better their performance
• A user-friendly parent dashboard that makes it easy to track children’s progress in acquiring specific skills so that parents can monitor and guide their children without themselves speaking English
• An intuitive interface that enables children to navigate through the curriculum entirely on their own
• A rewards system that motivates children to progress through structured lessons and enjoy playing English teaching games and puzzles

“Rakuten’s unmatched connections with families will enable our joint venture to help children across the country learn English. Japan is a top strategic international market for us and an important pillar of our global expansion,” said Paul Candland, CEO, Age of Learning.

“ABCmouse English offers unmatched curriculum quality for preschool to elementary aged learners, and our new joint venture illustrates our commitment to bringing this world-class learning resource to as many families across Japan as possible,” said Koji Ando, Rakuten Group Managing Executive Officer and Senior Vice President of Rakuten's Investment & Incubation Company.

ABCmouse English is one of the newest additions to Age of Learning’s growing suite of educational products. Age of Learning’s research-proven early learning methodologies have made ABCmouse Early Learning Academy the leading digital early learning program for families in the U.S.

For more information about ABCmouse English in Japan, visit here.

About Age of Learning
Age of Learning, Inc. is a leading education technology innovator, creating engaging, research-proven, digital learning programs that have helped tens of millions of children build a strong foundation for academic success. Age of Learning’s flagship product in the U.S., ABCmouse® Early Learning Academy, is the top education program for families with children ages 2 to 8. The company is expanding globally, beginning with its English language learning program ABCmouse English, and is expanding to serve schools with groundbreaking personalized, adaptive math and reading programs. For more information visit www.AgeofLearning.com.

About Rakuten
Rakuten Group, Inc. (TSE: 4755) is a global leader in internet services that empower individuals, communities, businesses and society. Founded in Tokyo in 1997 as an online marketplace, Rakuten has expanded to offer services in e-commerce, fintech, digital content and communications to approximately 1.5 billion members around the world. The Rakuten Group has over 25,000 employees, and operations in 30 countries and regions. For more information visit https://global.rakuten.com/corp/.