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Hallo powers an innovative social language learning experience with Agora’s real-time video chat.

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About HALLO

As a Korean immigrant to the US, Hallo CEO and Co-founder Joon Beh knows the challenges that come with learning a new language and the value of practicing consistently rather than simply reading a textbook. That’s what inspired Joon’s idea for Hallo, a free social app and live streaming platform for language learning.

While working as a consultant, Joon realized that an “Uber for language learning” would solve many of the problems English-language learners face. He eventually quit his job and partnered with co-founder Benjamin Dent to start Hallo.

The app officially launched in May 2019 and Hallo has been growing at an explosive rate ever since with tens of millions of minutes of calls each month on the platform.

“The best way to learn a new language is by actually speaking, practicing and immersing yourself in the culture every single day. Our mission is to make language learning fun, convenient, and affordable all in real-time, online.”

JOON BEH, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, HALLO

The Power of Real-Time Engagement

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Traditionally, the world’s 1.5 billion English-language learners spend most of their time in their textbooks and not speaking. However, the most effective way to learn a new language is by actually engaging with other people. Hallo is able to provide this much needed real-time engagement for language learners. At the click of a button, users can interact and have real-time conversations with native speakers via live video chat. Users can also pay to have private lessons with native speakers.

Hallo’s community deepens the experience. With more than one million English learners from around the globe on the platform, both students and teachers can get connected and start talking with each other in real-time anywhere, anytime.

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Connecting a Global Language-Loving Community

The Hallo team initially tried developing its own web-based audio and video solution. While it worked within the U.S., the results weren’t as successful outside of the country. After realizing they needed a real-time engagement partner to ensure the same quality of experience (QoE) globally, the Hallo team chose Agora for its global scalability, ultra-low latency, and competitive pricing.

For Hallo, global reach is particularly important as its users live around the world, especially in countries like India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Vietnam, Brazil, and Egypt. Because the Hallo team wants to continue providing its main features free of charge, they also needed a real-time audio and video provider that offered a fair pricing model while meeting their needs for a high-quality video experience. Hallo was able to implement the new interactive video streaming solution quickly via Agora’s Video API, with expert hands-on assistance from Agora’s Customer Support team.

“Agora understands our situation as a startup. We chose Agora based on the following criteria: price, performance, implementation, scalability, and technology. We’ve been happy with the results and we’re excited for a continued long term partnership.”

JOON BEH, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, HALLO

Joon Beh Profile

“With a global network dedicated to low latency, high-availability real-time audio and video, Agora provides Hallo with the global reach and scalability needed to ensure our users around the world have the same quality of experience, no matter their location.”

JOON BEH, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, HALLO

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