Duolingo announced Wednesday that it had strong earnings in the first quarter of 2024 and thus was raising its guidance for the full year.
It saw total revenue of $167.6 million, up 45% from the same time a year ago. Net income was $27 million, up from a loss of $2.6 million during the same time a year ago.
Total revenue topped analyst predictions. Yahoo Finance had predicted that it would range between $163.58 million and $167.54 million, with an average estimate of $165.68 million.
As a result of the high revenue, the company updated its guidance for full-year 2024. It expects revenue to range from $726.5 million to $735.5 million. The previous high-end was forecasted at $729.5 million.
"The continued strength in the business is what gives us the confidence to raise our 2024 bookings and revenue guidance," CFO Matt Skaruppa said on the company's quarterly earning call.
CEO Luis von Ahn said the company's monetization plans are in the early stages, citing a broader rollout of the artificial intelligence powered higher tier subscription plan, Duolingo Max. Currently, Max is only available for users learning Spanish and French in six countries, exclusively on iOS.
"About a year ago we started experimenting with a third-tier, which we call Duolingo Max," von Ahn said during the call. "Over the next few quarters, we will roll out Max to other countries and other languages."
The company will continue to change features included in the various tiers.
"There's no real reason for the highest package to be just AI features," von Ahn said during the call. "Toward the end of the year we will probably have a pretty set set of features and at that time there will be work to be done to move as many of our subscribers to Max as possible."
The company saw a 54% increase from the prior year quarter in daily active users, with 31.4 million people keeping up with their streaks. Monthly active users saw a 35% increase to 97.6 million.
Von Ahn cited two main reasons for the growth in users.
"The bigger reason is that we have just been improving our product over the last several years, and those product improvements compound," von Ahn said during the call. "But also, marketing, and in particular our brand marketing has done a really good job at getting the brand out there."
