About Us

Learn about Lingvist, our story, and what we are doing every day to take your vocabulary to the next level.

The Lingvist team

Lingvist is an education company working to make language learning 10x faster by using big data and AI. Lingvist maps the knowledge and skills of each learner, adapting learning materials in real time and creating an experience that is pleasantly and uniquely challenging for every individual learner. Lingvist has developed exceptional language analysis methods, enabling the program to swiftly customize course content to teach language for a particular context.

The Lingvist story

It all began in the mountains of Switzerland, where our co-founder, Mait Müntel, was part of the Higgs boson discovery team at CERN. He’d been living in the French-speaking part of Switzerland for years but hadn’t managed to learn the local language, since he didn’t have time to attend classes, and digital tools and language books didn’t provide him with the vocabulary he needed. Frustrated by how difficult it was to make progress, Mait had given up learning French time and time again.

He then got the idea to approach language learning like a mathematical challenge and decided to build his own solution instead. Mait’s prototype drew upon the machine learning work he had used while searching for the boson particle, along with the basics of language statistics and cognitive science theory.

Lingvist meeting

After learning with a homemade prototype for 200 hours, he put himself to the test and took a high-school-level French exam, which he passed with a strong score. That was the seed from which Lingvist took root.

Mait took those principles he had used to teach himself and started developing them for anyone to use, with the goal of significantly accelerating language learning and reducing inefficiency in the learning process.

We built our proof of concept after receiving the Prototron Grant, a seed-funding initiative for budding startups, in March 2013. In 2014 Lingvist was selected from a pool of over 1,500 applicants to participate in the world-renowned TechStars London accelerator program. With the support of €1m in seed funding from our first investors, a generous grant for scientific and technological development from the EU Horizon 2020 programme, and $8m in Series A funding led by Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten, Lingvist has been building the future of fast and efficient learning.

Lingvist meeting

Today, Lingvist is an eclectic team of more than 40 language and technology lovers hailing from around the world. Members include alumni from Skype and CERN, and specialists in areas ranging from AI and computational linguistics to UX and product development. Our team has already innovated educational technology, and we are set on pioneering many new breakthroughs in the years to come.

Meet our team

  • Mait Müntel

    Mait Müntel

    Founder and CEO

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    Mait Müntel

    Founder and Chief Executive Officer

    Mait Müntel is a nuclear physicist and an entrepreneur. He received his PhD in theoretical physics in 2008 from the University of Tartu in Estonia.

    During his studies, he worked as a teacher of physics to secondary school students. Mait also worked at CERN within the CMS experiments division for 9 years and was part of the Higgs boson discovery team in Switzerland in 2012.

    After the particle’s discovery, Mait got the idea to use the same algorithms from particle physics to help people learn new languages 10 times faster. He co-founded Lingvist, which has since grown from a great idea into an amazing team of over 30 people.

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  • Aleksei Kolesnikov

    Aleksei Kolesnikov

    COO

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    Aleksei Kolesnikov

    COO

    As the COO, Aleksei is mostly responsible for operational excellence and growth.

    With a background in fintech and urban mobility startups, he’s mostly interested in achieving hypergrowth via the optimization of processes and regular re-balancing of investments. In his free time he mentors early-stage startups in a local accelerator and plays the “What? Where? When?” game.

  • Paweł Mandera

    Paweł Mandera

    Head of Research

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    Paweł Mandera

    Head of Research

    Natural Language Processing / Cognitive Science / AI / Data Science

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  • Roni Eskola

    Roni Eskola

    VP of Marketing

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    Roni Eskola

    VP of Marketing

    Passionate about optimizing for the maximum level of growth as well as using technology for maximum benefit, Roni is responsible for the marketing team and marketing strategy within the company. His motivation comes from a background in the extremely performance-focused eCommerce sector, now working to bring the same level of growth to Lingvist. In his free time, Roni enjoys mentoring younger tech start-ups in Berlin, as well as reading and generally playing with technology.

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  • Siim Rebane

    Siim Rebane

    Head of Engineering

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    Siim Rebane

    Head of Engineering

  • Maria Heitmeier

    Maria Heitmeier

    Cognitive Scientist

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    Maria Heitmeier

    Cognitive Scientist

    With my cross-disciplinary knowledge of cognitive science, natural language processing, learning theory, and machine learning, I help provide content and contribute to the science behind Lingvist.

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  • Dirk Lloyd

    Dirk Lloyd

    Chief Editor and Localization Manager

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    Dirk Lloyd

    Chief Editor and Localization Manager

    I’m passionate about language and culture.

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  • Tural Ismayilov

    Tural Ismayilov

    Backend Developer

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    Tural Ismayilov

    Backend Developer

    I am giving instructions to computers to help people to learn new languages.

  • Kärt Isak

    Kärt Isak

    Linguistic Product Manager

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    Kärt Isak

    Linguistic Product Manager

    I accompany language pairs from the inital idea until their release.

  • Alexander Bosyy

    Alexander Bosyy

    Senior Product Designer

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    Alexander Bosyy

    Senior Product Designer

    Samurai of clan Pixel. As they say, “Nine slices would make a cut.” When I’m on a hunt, I aim for precision and silent moves.

    Our clan is famous for Pixel Perfect assets; it is our joy, our tradition, our pride. We spare no mercy for imperfect. At Lingvist, it is possible to conjure many things of various natures, and it’s an honor to serve right next to those who empower others to reach their better selves in shorter times. We do animations as well, by the way – animations are what make the dead living, what makes withered thriving with life.

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  • Mihkel Teemaa

    Mihkel Teemaa

    Graphic Designer

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    Mihkel Teemaa

    Graphic Designer

    I’m an experienced graphic designer with a background in branding and marketing design. At Lingvist, I work on day-to-day design tasks and help to develop and oversee the overall visual style of the brand and marketing. In my free time, I enjoy long walks in urban landscapes, Netflix and chill, listening to music and podcasts, and having drinks with my friends.

  • Anete Nõulik

    Anete Nõulik

    Account Manager

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    Anete Nõulik

    Account Manager

    Most of the time, Anete is spreading the word and getting Lingvist’s top-notch technology into companies and schools for innovative and optimized language learning, while improving Lingvist by listening to clients and gathering feedback. When she is not doing demo calls or getting lost in the mailbox, you can find her lifting weights, doing yoga, or running/hiking somewhere in nature. Her second-favorite hiding place is obviously the kitchen.

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  • Alejandra Fonseca De Franco

    Alejandra Fonseca De Franco

    SEO and Content Manager

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    Alejandra Fonseca De Franco

    SEO and Content Manager

    Former blogger turned SEO enthusiast and Content Manager. I am a strong believer that learning languages opens your world to so many great life experiences, which is why for the past 10 years I’ve been working for companies and organizations related to language learning and culture. In my free time, I take care of my plant babies and go for long walks in the forest.

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  • Alex Fan

    Alex Fan

    Interim CRM manager

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    Alex Fan

    Interim CRM manager

    I like growing stuff.

  • Kirsika Vaher

    Kirsika Vaher

    Operations Manager

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    Kirsika Vaher

    Operations Manager

    Managing Lingvist’s operations and finance, Kirsika ensures all the numbers run correctly in Excel and business operations are in order.

    Kirsika has strong concentration skills, whether there is a need to dig into long a Word document or Excel – something any parent has in order to survive. Lingvist’s operations team is small but powerful, and team effort is the keyword behind any bigger task.

    Family time is also a priority, so you might find her cycling around the neighborhood in Tallinn or staying at her country house and enjoying Estonia’s peaceful nature. Traveling is also a true love, one that she knows to offer excitement at every turn, whether the road leads to hiking or snowboarding, or just wandering around in a new, sometimes already known and visited city in a foreign country.

  • Jelena Okuneva

    Jelena Okuneva

    Customer Support Specialist

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    Jelena Okuneva

    Customer Support Specialist

    I love languages (learning, teaching, and translating them), admire planes (I have a background in the aviation field), and like solving problems (big and small). At Lingvist, I am taking care of our customers, resolving issues, answering questions, and ensuring that every user feels valued and supported.

Awards

HolonIQ 2021

2021-2020

Lingvist was selected by HolonIQ as one of the top 50 EdTech companies in the Nordic-Baltic eight (NB8) region.

EdTechDigest Finalist

2020

Finalist for The EdTech Digest Cool Tool award, language learning solution.

2019

Lingvist ranked #1 for TOEIC prep and “The EIKEN Test in Practical English Proficiency” in Japan

2019

Tech Edvocate Awards, Best Language Learning App or Tool

2017

EdTechXGlobal, All Stars Rise Award Winner

2015

Tallinn Entrepreneurship Awards, Brightest Startup

HolonIQ 2021

2021-2020

Lingvist was selected by HolonIQ as one of the top 50 EdTech companies in the Nordic-Baltic eight (NB8) region.

EdTechDigest Finalist

2020

Finalist for The EdTech Digest Cool Tool award, language learning solution.

2019

Lingvist ranked #1 for TOEIC prep and “The EIKEN Test in Practical English Proficiency” in Japan

2019

Tech Edvocate Awards, Best Language Learning App or Tool

2017

EdTechXGlobal, All Stars Rise Award Winner

2015

Tallinn Entrepreneurship Awards, Brightest Startup

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