I saw that Korean ed-tech Socra AI (known as Riiid until about two weeks ago) has entered into a licensing deal to create a TOEFL prep platform called Santa TOEFL. Socra says that the platform will “[integrate] official ETS content, providing learners worldwide with updated practice tests and learning solutions aligned with the January 2026 TOEFL revision.”
It is starting to look like new licensing deals will be a bigger part of the TOEFL’s revenue stream as ETS seeks to reboot and reinvent its flagship product. I wrote a few days ago about the Official TOEFL AI platform launched recently with a partner – as yet unnamed – in China. If this is indeed part of the strategy, it is probably a good idea. To my eye, test forms for the new TOEFL seem a heckuva lot cheaper to develop than test forms for the old version.
But this isn’t totally new. TOEFL already enjoys longstanding partnerships with Chinese firms like New Oriental who for years have paid big bucks to license retired test forms. They also license retired tests to Chosun Ilbo (weird choice) in Korea which are sold to consumers for $44 a pop. A partnership with the Japanese office of the Council on International Education Exchange to license the same test forms ended a few years ago.
Not that it matters, but Socra/Riiid is an interesting case. During the pandemic, that firm raised an eye-watering $170 million dollars of series-D funding from SoftBank, mostly on the back of a good-but-not-great AI-powered TOEIC prep app.** I think they used the money to buy up a more traditional English study platform, the management of which ended up running the whole merged company. Is that what they call a reverse takeover?
**Those were the days, my friends.