51Talk Pivoted
51talk.com
Singapore-based platform offering 1-on-1 English lessons to global K-12 learners, mostly via Filipino teachers.
51Talk is an online English-learning platform now headquartered in Singapore and run by 51Talk Online Education Group (legally China Online Education Group, ticker COE). Founded in 2011 in Beijing, it became one of China’s largest online English-education companies and IPO’d on the NYSE in 2016. Its model centers on live one-on-one English lessons booked on demand and sold in packages.
Lessons are 25-minute 1-on-1 video sessions with certified foreign teachers, targeting children and teenagers ages 3-18 with a structured "Learn-Practice-Test-Support" cycle. The teaching workforce is heavily Philippines-based, with tens of thousands of Filipino teachers alongside teachers from the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Service is now aimed at learners outside mainland China.
The company’s defining event was China’s 2021 "Double Reduction" policy, which banned for-profit K-12 academic tutoring and barred overseas foreign teachers from serving mainland students. 51Talk spun off its mainland business and refocused on international markets, transferring its US listing to NYSE American in 2023. Growth has resumed (Q3 2025 active students up ~71% YoY). It best suits non-China families seeking affordable 1-on-1 spoken-English practice for kids.
Pros & cons
Pros
- Large teacher pool (notably Filipino) enabling flexible, low-cost 1-on-1 lessons
- Established publicly listed company with public disclosure
- Strong recent international growth (active students up ~71% YoY in Q3 2025)
Cons
- Ongoing financial losses indicate some fragility
- Downgraded from the main NYSE to NYSE American (2023)
Key features
- 1-on-1 live online lessons with certified foreign teachers
- 25-minute lesson format designed for children
- Structured "Learn-Practice-Test-Support" methodology
- Age-tiered curriculum tracks for ages 3-18
Key facts
- Type
- Language Tutoring & Conversation
- Model
- On-demand
- Founded
- 2011
- Headquarters
- Singapore
- Regions served
- International (Middle East, SE Asia, Turkey, Hong Kong)
- Subjects
- English for children and teens ages 3-18
- Pricing
- ~US$12 per 25-min lesson; sold in packages
- Scale
- NYSE American: COE; large Filipino teacher base; ~112,600 active students (Q3 2025)