K-12 learning 🇫🇷 Paris, France Since 2016

Lalilo

A reading and French app for primary schools.

Visit lalilo.com Try Lalilo free All companies
students used Lalilo in the 2024–2025 school year, according to Renaissance
1.2M
teachers used Lalilo in 2024–2025
100,000
a year, US classroom licence, English curriculum, up to 40 students
$250
a year, French classroom licence, up to 35 students
€49

About Lalilo

Lalilo is a web app for teaching children to read, built for kindergarten to grade 2 and also used with older struggling readers. Students work through adaptive phonics, word recognition, fluency and comprehension exercises, and teachers follow progress on a dashboard. Three graduates of École Polytechnique started Lalilo in Paris in 2016, and the US company Renaissance Learning bought it in March 2021. Since 12 November 2025 Lalilo has no free version: in the US a teacher pays $250 a year for a classroom licence of up to 40 students, and schools and districts get a quote from Renaissance. Lalilo runs in the browser with no App Store or Google Play app, and the product team still works from Paris.

Lalilo teaches early reading. A child logs in with a code from the teacher and moves through a map of worlds with short exercises. The exercises cover phonological and phonemic awareness, letter and word recognition, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary and writing. A speech recognition model listens to read-aloud exercises and gives feedback. The AI picks the next exercise from the child’s answers. Teachers see results by lesson and skill and can assign lessons.

Amine Mezzour, Benjamin Abdi and Laurent Jolie registered Lalilo SAS in Paris on 2 August 2016. All three studied at École Polytechnique and took part in The Refiners programme in San Francisco. Lalilo raised €1.6 million in 2017 and €5 million in a Series A led by Partech, EduCapital and Citizen Capital in November 2019. The French Ministry of Education chose Lalilo for its P2IA artificial intelligence partnership, which made the tool free for French teachers for several years.

Renaissance Learning, the Wisconsin Rapids maker of Star assessments and Freckle, bought Lalilo in March 2021 for an undisclosed price. Lalilo SAS became Renaissance’s first French subsidiary. The Paris team, 23 people on the team page, builds the product in English and French. Renaissance sells school and district licences in North America, and Lalilo sells classroom licences online. The free version ended on 12 November 2025, and French state funding through P2IA and TNE ended in 2025 and 2026.

History

  1. 2016 Amine Mezzour, Benjamin Abdi and Laurent Jolie register Lalilo SAS in Paris on 2 August.
  2. 2017 Lalilo raises €1.6 million and wins a French Ministry of Education tender for teaching reading.
  3. 2019 Lalilo becomes a P2IA laureate of the French Ministry of Education. In November it raises €5 million from Partech, EduCapital and Citizen Capital.
  4. 2021 Renaissance Learning buys Lalilo in March. Lalilo becomes Renaissance’s first French subsidiary.
  5. 2022 Lalilo connects to GAR, the French access system for school digital resources.
  6. 2024 Lalilo wins the Edvocate Award for Best Early Childhood Education App and is a SIIA CODiE finalist. In November a randomised trial with about 3,000 first-year pupils starts in 6 French académies.
  7. 2025 1.2 million students and 100,000 teachers use Lalilo in the 2024–2025 school year. Classroom licences go on sale in Belgium on 4 September.
  8. 2025 The free version ends on 12 November. Teachers in the US, Canada and Europe must buy a licence for students to log in.
  9. 2026 Free TNE licences stop on 1 May and the TNE programme ends on 15 August. In June Lalilo publishes first results of its impact study.
  10. 2026 Lalilo celebrates 10 years with teachers, researchers and Ministry of Education guests. Paris teachers can order a licence through the city’s eDAL3 catalogue from September.

Lalilo funding and investors

€6.6M raised before the Renaissance deal
  1. 2017
    First round €1.6M

    Source: FrenchWeb
  2. November 2019
    Series A €5M

    PartechEduCapitalCitizen Capital

    Source: FrenchWeb
  3. March 2021
    Acquisition by Renaissance Learning Amount not disclosed

    Renaissance Learning

    Source: Orrick

Rounds as reported by FrenchWeb and ActuIA. Renaissance did not disclose the 2021 purchase price.

Leadership

  • Pascal Julie General Manager
  • Barbara Lutz Pedagogical Manager
  • Jessie Alexander Senior Curriculum Manager
  • Lucile Gelin Speech Scientist
  • Estelle Acart Head of Customer Support

The Lalilo team page lists 23 people in October 2026. The French register puts Lalilo SAS in the 20–49 employee band for 2024. The three founders are not on the current team page.

How Lalilo teaches reading

interactive exercises in the French version
90,000
curricula, English and French
2
Student Growth Percentile points for students using Lalilo with fidelity, Renaissance study
+8
  • Adaptive sequencing by AI
  • Speech recognition for reading aloud
  • Systematic phonics
  • Mini-lessons and formative feedback
  • Assigned and targeted lessons
  • Weekly goals
  • Reports by lesson and skill
  • Nearpod lessons connected to Lalilo
  • Placement from Star Early Literacy and Star Reading
  • Move to Freckle ELA after the K–2 skills
Renaissance says students using Lalilo gained the equivalent of 9 extra weeks of learning, and students using it with fidelity gained 8 more Student Growth Percentile points than nonusers. Lalilo’s own randomised trial in France with about 3,000 first-year pupils, run with J-PAL and the Paris School of Economics from November 2024 to July 2025, measured average use of 13 minutes a week per pupil against a recommended 40, and the company says the usable data was smaller than planned.
https://blog.lalilo.com/etude-dimpact-lalilo-premiers-resultats/

What Lalilo covers

English curriculum, K–27

  • Phonological and phonemic awareness
  • Letter and word recognition
  • Phonics and decoding
  • Comprehension and fluency
  • Vocabulary
  • Writing
  • Social literacy

French curriculum, Cycle 2 and 36

  • Letter names and sounds
  • Reading aloud
  • Grammatical spelling and homophones
  • Synonyms
  • Conjugation
  • Reinforcement lessons for newcomer pupils

Who it is for4

  • Children learning to read, typically kindergarten to grade 2
  • Preschool children ready for reading instruction
  • Students in grades 3 to 6 without foundational reading skills
  • Multilingual learners and students with special needs

From the Lalilo help center and lalilo.com, checked on 8 October 2026. Teachers choose English or French when they create a class.

Products

  • Student journey Children travel through worlds of adaptive exercises and earn diplomas, badges and stories. The AI chooses the next lesson from each answer. See Lalilo
  • Read-aloud exercises The child reads a word or sentence into the microphone. Lalilo’s speech recognition model scores the reading and gives instant feedback. How read-aloud works
  • Teacher dashboard Teachers see class and student progress by lesson and skill, assign lessons, make a student skip lessons and print family invitations with home codes. Teacher login
  • French curriculum Reading and French lessons for primary schools in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada and French schools abroad. In France it works through GAR and school ENT portals. Lalilo in French

How much is Lalilo?

  • US classroom licence, English or both curricula $250 a year, up to 40 students, one teacher
  • US classroom licence, French only $90 a year, up to 35 students
  • Canada classroom licence, English or both CA$296 a year, up to 40 students
  • Canada classroom licence, French only CA$120 a year, up to 35 students
  • France and Belgium, whole class €49 a year incl. VAT, up to 35 pupils
  • France and Belgium, small group €35 a year incl. VAT, up to 15 pupils
  • France and Belgium, single pupil €19 a year incl. VAT, 1 pupil
  • Request a quote School or district licence Quote unlimited students, Star placement, Renaissance Growth Platform

Is Lalilo free?

No free version since 12 November 2025. In France new teachers get a 30-day free trial with all features. Families get access through the child’s teacher, who shares a home code.

Prices from the Lalilo help center on 8 October 2026. US and Canada classroom licences are paid by credit card and last 365 days. French and Belgian prices include VAT and are per year. Schools and districts get a quote: Renaissance sells school and district licences in North America, and LDE handles quotes in France. lalilo.com/pricing, linked from the help center, returned a 404 on 8 October 2026.

Licence terms and refunds

Classroom licence FAQ
  • US and Canada classroom licence ↗
    1. Log in to the teacher account
    2. Open Account Settings to see the end date
    3. The licence does not renew by itself
    4. Buy a new licence after the current one expires
  • A classroom licence lasts 365 days from the day of purchase.
  • After a cancellation, access continues until the original end date.
  • One teacher can buy only one classroom licence.
  • Co-teachers can join a class, but they do not get a licence.

Refund rules

US and Canada
No refunds during the school year, also when the school later buys licences.
France and Belgium
No discounts for several teachers in one school. Renewal opens only after the licence expires.

From the Lalilo help center, checked on 8 October 2026.

Lalilo for schools and districts

Request a quote
  • 01Unlimited number of students on a school or district licence.
  • 02Rostering through the Renaissance Growth Platform, Clever for teacher login.
  • 03Placement from Star Reading and Star Early Literacy scores.
  • 04Recommendation to move students on to Freckle ELA.
  • 05Usage and performance reports for school and district administrators.
  • 06In France: licences through GAR and the LDE catalogue, hosting in France.

Quote from Renaissance in North America. In France €49 per teacher a year, with implementation support from 20 classes..

Latest news

  1. Déployer Lalilo sur son territoire : le guide pratique
  2. Les 10 ans de Lalilo : revivez la soirée en vidéo
  3. Étude d’impact Lalilo : premiers résultats
  4. C’est la fin du dispositif TNE

Contacts and company data

Legal entity
Lalilo SAS, 13 rue des Petits Hôtels, 75010 Paris, France
SIREN
821 893 930, Paris trade register
Company type
SAS, simplified joint-stock company
Registered
2 August 2016
Activity code
NAF 58.29C, software publishing
Share capital
€2,069.70
VAT number
FR02 821893930
Revenue 2025
€1,487,696, net result €1,716,559
Status
Active, 3 open establishments

Alternatives to Lalilo

How we built this profile

  1. Sources. Facts come from the company’s own website, press room, imprint and careers page, from Wikipedia, the App Store, Google Play and Trustpilot. Every source is listed on the page.
  2. Checks. Kinescope checked every number on 8 October 2026. Prices, ratings and job counts change, and we refresh them with each update.
  3. Our words. Descriptions are written by the Kinescope team. Quotes from reviews are marked with the author and source, and we do not rate the company ourselves.
  4. Corrections. The company can send new facts or corrections, and we update the profile.

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Lalilo FAQ

Lalilo is a web app for learning to read. Children in kindergarten to grade 2 do adaptive phonics, word recognition, fluency and comprehension exercises, and teachers track progress on a dashboard. Renaissance Learning owns it, and the team works in Paris.

No. Since 12 November 2025 Lalilo has no free version. A teacher needs a licence so students can log in. In France new teachers get a 30-day free trial with all features.

In the US a classroom licence costs $250 a year for the English curriculum and up to 40 students, or $90 a year for French only. In Canada it costs CA$296 or CA$120. In France and Belgium it costs €19, €35 or €49 a year. Schools and districts get a quote.

Teachers log in at app.lalilo.com with email and password or with Clever. Students enter a school code in class or a personal home code at home. Students rostered through the Renaissance Growth Platform click the Lalilo tile.

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