Who owns Duolingo? All we know as language learning app announces death of mascot Duo the owl, sparks reactions 

The popular language learning platform Duolingo has caused quite a storm online after surprising fans with the announcement of the beloved mascot, Duo the Owl's "death".

It was announced on the company's social media accounts and quickly went viral. For the uninitiated, the owl is fictional, and this is a clever marketing ploy from the company.

Duolingo was launched in 2009 by Luis von Ahn, a professor at Carnegie Mellon and a postgraduate student, Severin Hacker. The app, which offers gamified language learning lessons in more than 40 languages, was originally funded through von Ahn’s MacArthur fellowship and a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Since that time, Duolingo has managed to attract considerable financial interest from prominent investors. In 2011, the company completed its Series A funding round led by Union Square Ventures for a total of $3.3 million, followed by a Series B round in which New Enterprise Associates invested 15 million dollars.

Post-IPO funding rounds raised more money from high-profile funders, like Google Capital (now CapitalG) and Drive Capital. On July 28, 2021, the company went public and began trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "DUOL."

It is now a publicly traded company owned by multiple institutional investors, financial firms, and individual shareholders.

More about the death of Duolingo’s Duo the owl

On February 11, 2025, Duolingo took to social media to announce that its longtime mascot was no more.

The statement, filled with the app’s signature humor, said that the authorities were investigating the cause of death but speculated that Duo may have died of a broken heart in anticipation of users finishing their language lessons.

The announcement soon gained traction online as users and brands responded in various ways. Netflix also played into the joke, tweeting a video of Duo being eliminated from a “Squid Game” challenge, adding to speculation about the cause of his fictional demise.

Other brands, like Baskin Robbins, Squishmallows , and Cheez-It, came through with their own playful condolences. Even the University of Miami weighed in, saying it was "too much to handle" losing Duo during their centennial celebration year.

An official statement by the company humorously asked users to help preserve Duo’s memory by completing a lesson or, if that wasn’t good enough, giving credit card information to sign up for Duolingo Max in the owl's memory.