We started Apprentus after I struggled to find a good music teacher for my children. I did not really know this market and found out the search was slow and full of dead ends. We launched in Brussels in October 2013 and Apprentus grew far beyond what we first imagined. We now have more than 130,000 teachers across dozens of countries.
Over the years, I have seen people learn things I could never have imagined at the start. And just as importantly, we have helped teachers share their passion with so many students. The thing is, Apprentus has never been only about education. On the surface, people come because they want an effective way to learn. Below that, they find something more: human connection. They meet people, build relationships and sometimes even create friendships.
We didn’t expect it to be so important when we started; we discovered it through doing this work. In this kind of learning, human connection is the main driver, and it is why people on Apprentus have the possibility to learn more efficiently than at any other private school or with any educational app.
We have always believed that there is no single right way to learn. Every teacher brings their own personality, experience and way of sharing knowledge. Every student arrives with different interests, goals, doubts and motivations. The right teacher can make a real difference.
A lot of our students come after failing to learn alone, with apps, online tools, and more recently AI. Some felt they were not motivated enough, not talented enough, or thought they simply did not have time to practise. What they were missing was a supportive teacher.
This never discouraged us to explore how technology could make learning better. Until now, nothing really changed my belief that great teachers are at the heart of the most efficient learning experience. Of course they guide the student, they provide direct feedback, but as well they build confidence, they create momentum, which makes persistent learning possible. Technology cannot replace that.
If technology can not make students persistent at learning, maybe its potential could be at making the learning from the teacher stronger? That question stayed with us over the years.
A weekly lesson can be powerful, but the questions and doubts often come later, while practising or revising, and until now students often had to wait for the next lesson.
This year we are introducing Encore.
Encore is our AI companion designed to extend the work of our teachers beyond the lesson itself. It is not here to replace the teachers, quite the opposite. We want to give our teachers new possibilities to support their students in ways that would be difficult to offer on their own.
We are starting with our one-to-one online lessons. Encore will act as a silent assistant at each lesson, taking notes on all educational content so that students can come back later to Encore to practise, review, ask questions or deepen their understanding. It can be as simple as asking, “Can you explain again what my teacher taught me yesterday?”
For us, this is what makes Encore magic: it does not start with a generic lesson or textbook. It starts with, and is fully connected to, the real learning experience that the student has with their teacher.
Encore is not a new teacher. It is the smartest support you can get between one lesson with your teacher and the next.
Encore is now fully available to our English and French speaking users, with more features and languages to come. You can see how it works here.
To our teachers, students, colleagues and communities, our belief remains the same: learning from another person is something special. Technology will continue to help us make that experience richer and more continuous, but the human connection will always remain at the heart of Apprentus.
Thank you,
Gaëtan Deremince
CEO, Apprentus
August 19, 2026
Why “Encore”? The name reflects the idea of continuing the learning beyond the lesson. Learn more about the word “Encore”.