- Peer-to-peer learning community Brainly has raised a $30 million round of funding led by Naspers
Brainly — the world’s largest peer-to-peer learning community for students, parents, and teachers — announced it raised $30 million in a round of funding led by Naspers. Runa Capital and Manta Ray also participated in this round. Including this round, Brainly has raised up to $68.5 million.
The current funding round will be used for enhancing Brainly’s user experience and invest further in the quality of help provided to students and parents across the globe. And the funds will help further expand its user base in the U.S., a key market for Brainly — which the company is already successfully monetizing.
Founded in 2009 in Poland, Brainly was built to recreate local student study groups in a global online community and has steadily grown to be a leading EdTech player. The company is now seeing 150 million monthly unique users and the service now reaches students, teachers, and parents across 35 countries.
“Every student struggles with schoolwork at some point. But never before has there been such widespread access and opportunity for students to learn from one another,” said Brainly CEO and co-founder Michał Borkowski. “Our goal is to extend that access to every one of the 76 million U.S. students and beyond, giving them the resources and the tools to succeed and inspire collaborative learning. This funding allows us to do just that.”
Along with the U.S., Brainly’s largest communities are in Russia, Indonesia, India, Turkey, Brazil, and Poland. Students are using Brainly to strengthen their skills across core subjects like math, history, science, and social studies. And the platform allows them to connect with their peers, subject matter experts, and professional educators to discuss their subjects and seek answers to tricky questions.
“We have been impressed by Brainly’s growth over the past 10 years, particularly in the U.S. and high-growth markets like India, Indonesia, Turkey, and Brazil,” added Naspers Ventures CEO Larry Illg. “At Naspers, we back companies seeking to address big societal needs like education, helping them fulfill their vision with the ultimate aim of achieving global scale. Brainly has the potential to serve the needs of hundreds of millions of students around the world and Michal and the team are building an invaluable service for learners everywhere.”
Brainly’s “crowd learning” model combines online education, social media, and machine learning. And it is disrupting the $2.6 billion education market on a global level.
“Brainly exists to level the playing field for all students, no matter where they are, what language they speak, or the circumstances of their school districts. This is why our platform is so universal and used by students all over the world,” Borkowski pointed out.
