Academy of Change

The Academy of Changes project was launched in 2020 by former CEO of Gett in Russia and founder of the recruiting company PapaJobs Vitaly Krylov, as well as former top manager of Raiffeisen Bank Pavel Papin and authors of the blog @ Razborki_v_mode Anastasia Erasova and Natalia Krylova.

Academy of Changes is an educational service for women on the most relevant life style topics, such as nutrition, cosmetology, style, makeup, psychology, etc. By March 2021, the platform offers 18 free webinars and 9 paid online courses that were attended by more than 500 thousand women. The cost of each course depends on its duration and format. The minimum price for a three-week marathon is 2,900 rubles, the maximum price for a two-month course is 14,990 rubles.

History

2021

Attraction of 242 million rubles

In early August 2021, it became known about the investment of 242 million rubles in the Academy of Changes. The EdTech platform was invested in the TMT Investments fund (acted as the main investor), the MTS corporate venture fund, as well as the Quantum A group of companies, etc.

MTS clarified that the company invested about 73 million rubles in the Academy of Changes. The startup intends to spend the funds raised on the development of the product line and the beginning of international expansion into the markets of Latin America and Southeast Asia (SWAO).

MTS Fund invested 73 million rubles in the EdTech platform "Academy of Changes"

We decided to support the Academy of Change in a new round of financing, as we believe in them: the project has an excellent team, the Russian online education market with an annual growth of more than 20% and an excellent product that has proved its demand, "says Artem Inyutin, co-founder and managing partner of the TMT Investments venture fund. - The new round will help the project not only to expand its presence in the Russian market, but also to begin scaling to some countries of South African Republic and Latin America.

By early August 2021, the Academy of Change launched 50 online courses. In total, more than 650,000 women passed them. 95% of customers left positive feedback on the platform's speakers and programs.

MTS, commenting on investing in the Academy of Changes, noted that this start is at the junction of education and entertainment with an already formed solvent audience throughout Russia, using technology to personalize sales and form an individual educational path for users. MTS invests in a project that has everything necessary to grow market share, as well as an ecosystem of value to customers, the telecom company explained. According to MTS estimates, the volume of the Russian EdTech market is growing by 20-25% per year.^[1]

Attraction of 60 million rubles

On March 18, 2021, the Academy of Changes announced the attraction of 60 million rubles. The venture capital fund AdFirst.Vc, managing partners of Kokoc Group, the corporate venture capital fund Quantum A Group, as well as DLA Piper partner Leo Batalov invested in the educational platform for women.

As TAdviser was told at the Academy of Change, the startup intends to spend the investments received to strengthen its position in the lifestyle education and femtech market.

EdTech platform for women "Academy of Change" attracted 60 million rubles

"Academy of Changes" grew out of the blog razborki v mode, thanks to which we realized that Russian women have many open needs in areas related to their lifestyle. We want to work with these needs and make women happy, "said Vitaly Krylov, co-founder of the startup, commenting on attracting investments.

According to him, the Russian lifestyle education market in 2021 is experiencing rapid growth, its volume exceeds 80 billion rubles. The products of the Academy of Changes are in high demand, Krylov added.