Edtech Marketplace Preply Raises $35M
Edtech marketplace Preply has secured an additional USD $35 million of funding, a sum that more than doubles its fundraising efforts since 2013. The round was led by Owl Ventures and Full In Partners, with participation from previous investors Point Nine Capital, Hoxton Ventures, as well as EduCapital, All Iron, Diligent Capital and Evli Growth Partners. Angel investors Niklas Ostberg, cofounder and CEO of Delivery Hero; Arthur Kosten, co-founder of Booking.com; Przemyslaw Gacek, co-founder of Grupa Pracuj; and David Helgason, co-founder of Unity Technologies are also participants.
This Series B announcement comes on the heels of an exceptional year for Preply with the number of active learners and tutors, GMV and overall revenues quadrupling across the board. One factor is the trend of e-learning adoption, already in motion and now accelerated by COVID-19 lockdowns. It also correlates with how Preply is combining it’s human-led approach with a proprietary curriculum product covering the full learning journey with AI-powered features. This technology has significantly increased the length of time each learner spends on the platform, resulting in a 16 per cent increase in purchased lessons per student.