Bilingual mobile learning platform buildout for a Canadian EdTech scale-up

Client profile

The client is a Toronto-headquartered EdTech company operating a K-12 supplemental learning platform serving approximately 240,000 Canadian students across English- and French-speaking provinces. The platform combines curriculum-aligned content, adaptive assessment, and parent progress dashboards. The client raised a $22M Series B in early 2025 with a mandate to accelerate mobile platform development and expand into the Quebec French-language market.

The challenge

The client's mobile app had been built by a small in-house team of three engineers on a legacy React Native codebase. Feature spec-to-shipped cycle time averaged 42 days, mobile app A/B iteration velocity was 21 days per cycle, and Quebec French localization was incomplete and blocked by unresolved technical debt in the internationalization layer. The Series B investors had specifically flagged mobile product velocity as a growth blocker.

The client had attempted to hire additional mobile engineers in Toronto and Montreal but faced two challenges. Toronto and Montreal senior React Native engineers were commanding CAD 150,000-190,000 total compensation, and the local market had few candidates with combined React Native and Canadian French EdTech context. Hiring cycles averaged 4-5 months per role.

Additional complexity: Quebec regulatory context (Bill 96 language laws) required certain user-facing content to be delivered in French with equivalent quality to English, not machine-translated afterthoughts. The client's French-language content and UX had material quality gaps that were preventing market entry.

Why Corpshore Vietnam

The client selected Corpshore Vietnam on three qualifications: our French-language capable engineering bench (rare among Vietnamese providers, sourced from our Corpshore Vietnam Francophone specialist track), our React Native and mobile-native experience across prior engagements, and our Toronto-based engagement director who could act as a fractional VP of Engineering for the client during the transition.

The client's CEO specifically noted our proposal was the only one that offered a bundled English and French engineering team from a single delivery footprint, rather than requiring the client to manage two separate vendors for the bilingual product.

The engagement

18 engineers split between HCMC (11) and Hanoi (7). Team composition: 2 technical leads (1 mobile-focused, 1 backend-focused), 4 senior engineers (2 React Native, 2 Node.js/backend), 8 mid-level engineers (mixed mobile/backend), 4 junior engineers. 3 team members are French-language capable (2 sourced from Vietnamese universities with French programs, 1 Francophone diaspora returnee) and handle French-language UX, content workflows, and Quebec-specific product requirements.

Approach and methodology

Rebuild the internationalization layer first. Phase 1 (months 1-3) focused on rebuilding the app's i18n infrastructure to support quality French delivery. Existing English content was migrated to a proper localization workflow, French content was rebuilt in parallel by our French-capable engineers working with the client's Montreal content team.

Feature parallelization. Rather than a single team building sequentially, feature squads of 3-5 engineers work in parallel on different product initiatives (assessment engine improvements, parent dashboard enhancements, French-language rollout, offline learning mode). Each squad has an embedded tech lead accountable to the client's product organization.

Continuous deployment enablement. The team rebuilt the client's mobile CI/CD pipeline to support daily releases, then transitioned the client's engineering culture to A/B iteration cycles of 5-7 days rather than 21. This capability was foundational for the Series B growth objectives.

Results

The Quebec French launch shipped at month 6, on the client's target timeline and meeting Bill 96 quality expectations. Cumulative app downloads reached 512,000 by month 6, driven partly by the Quebec expansion. Feature spec-to-shipped cycle time dropped from 42 days to 14 days. A/B iteration cycle time dropped from 21 days to 6 days. Client Series B milestone commitments to investors were met a quarter ahead of schedule.

The engagement continues into a second phase covering the client's expansion into the US Midwest market (Ohio, Michigan, Indiana pilots).

Enduring value

The rebuilt internationalization layer supports future language expansion without the previous technical debt. The mobile CI/CD pipeline and A/B iteration culture are permanent capabilities. The Vietnamese French-capable engineers on the account have durably shifted the client's understanding of what Vietnamese delivery can offer.