Trala Scores $1.3M For Violin Learning App, Another Win For Techstars’ Startup Incubator

Trala has raised an oversubscribed $1.29 million seed investment round for its violin learning app. Trala is part of the Techstar Chicago startup incubator.

Investors in the round include Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn; lead investor Origin Ventures and Techstars Ventures, as well as three  execs at language learning app, CEO Luis Von Ahn, VP of Business Bob Meese and CTO Severin Hacker.

Trala is part of Techstars Chicago, a satellite of the successful Techstars global startup ecosystem. Trala co-founders Sam Walder and Vishnu Indukuri are 2017 graduates from the University of Illinois.

"The Trala app promises to teach violin faster and more effectively than your standard private teacher,” says Sam Walder, CEO of Trala. “First-time violinists can learn their first song in 10 minutes instead of 3 weeks. We’re unlocking a skill that has been out of reach to most people for hundreds of years.”

“Origin is excited to back the Trala team and the technology it has built. For the first time, anyone can learn violin from an app,” says Prashant Shukla of Origin Ventures. “We bet on technology that drives dramatic improvements in efficiency and value, and Trala’s rapid early growth shows it is delivering this for users.”