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History of Saybot's Growth
The company was established in the summer of 2004 by a team of seasoned veterans in business, technology, and education, including PhD graduates from MIT and Stanford University, and some very creative ESL teaching professionals. This heterogeneous group of experts was united by only one mission: to revolutionize spoken English learning in China.
In the fall of 2004, Saybot made Shanghai its headquarters in “Century Park” and five of the first 10 employees were foreign nationals, while the other five were Chinese overseas students who were veterans of the Silicon Valley style of working. Our employees, who were from 6 different countries with different cultural backgrounds, prompted us to give ourselves the nickname: “the Mini United Nations”.
By September 2005, Saybot received additional investments from renowned VCs (Index Ventures and DragonVest) and technology visionaries (Nicholas Negroponte and Leonard Kleinrock). The number of employees had increased from 10 to 20. In that year, we built the main network and our core technology and created the initial curricula which was a vital and important first step.
In June of 2006, Saybot created lessons for the Interpretation Test Preparation Series in cooperation with a leading training organization -Only Education Group. They were the first spoken-English training lessons for the interpretation examination in Shanghai.
In September of 2006, Saybot signed an MOU with People's Education Press (PEP) to create interactive on-line English curricula for elementary and middle school students. In October of 2006, Saybot signed an MOU with Cambridge University Press to develop materials to supplement the English resources provided by Cambridge University Press.
In December of 2006, Aisino Corporation signed a contract with Saybot to be a national distributor selling Saybot's curricula in China.
Within the same month, Saybot forged a strategic cooperative contract with Li Yang Crazy English. We will develop together in the English learning market for the Beijing Olympics. Li Yang became the chief English adviser and Dr. Pengkai Pan became the chief science adviser to Crazy English.
And to end this auspicious year right, Saybot signed a contract with the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press (FLTRP), the biggest English material publisher in China, to co-develop supplementary spoken English practice lessons for grades 3, 4, 5, and 6.
Along with our new strategic partners, we also added more members to our Saybot family. By the beginning of 2007 the number of employees doubled to 45. Techniques and curricula were becoming increasingly mature and perfected by this time.
We revamped our Interview English lessons, and updated older curricula to keep up with the competitive market. With technology, we conducted user tests and gave the player and website a complete redesign – one that is sleeker and more user friendly. Our core technology is also in a stage of constant improvement. This year our team developed a new speech recognition model catered to children's voices.
Our curriculum team has also been working hard at improving its lessons. Saybot Lab this year has been leading the team in research and development and also churned out more than 30 creative and experimental lessons.
With all these exciting changes that have happened in the last two years, one thing for sure is that our motto hasn't changed: to provide innovation in learning for China's spoken English learners. Stay with us to see what other future endeavors we embark upon!
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增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B-2 20080078