Brainly

Brainly is an educational technology company based in Krakow, Poland, headquartered in the United States in New York. In Russia and the CIS countries, Brainly is known under the brand name "Knowledge."

History

2020: Attracting $80 million investment in Series D investment round

The educational technological company Brainly - the owner of service for the joint solution of homeworks of "Knowledge" and community for collective training of pupils, students, parents and teachers - reported on December 17, 2020 to TAdviser about attraction of $80 million in an investment round of series D. Fund raising took place under the direction of the Learn Capital company. The attracted investments will be directed to the development of the EdTech platform with a global audience of 350 million students, parents and teachers around the world.

Polish educational platform Brainly attracted $80 million in investments. Source photo: br.financas.yahoo.com

Prosus Ventures, Runa Capital, MantaRay and General Catalyst Partners also participated in the round. In total, it was possible to attract about $150 million.

In 2020, in connection with the coronavirus pandemic and the transition to distance learning, Znanija.com attendance increased sharply and reached more than 350 million students, parents and teachers every month, of which 55 million were in Russia and the CIS countries, where the service is represented by the Knowledge platform. Since April 2020, the growth of the international user base of the platform has exceeded 75%.

More than a decade ago, we realized that students needed a digital platform for peer learning on the principle of "equal - equal." So there was an online platform for students and parents, where you can get help with homework from other students and experts. The model turned out to be very popular, especially in connection with the pandemic, which forever changed the learning process. Over the years, Brainly's platform attendance has increased rapidly and steadily, and over the past six months has peaked, ahead of our plans by several years. And we get a lot of positive feedback from Brainly users, so we are confident in further positive dynamics, noted Michal Gwiazdowski, managing director of Brainly/Znanija.com in Poland, Russia and Romania.

The funds raised following investment round D will go to the development of Brainly digital products - both for students and their parents. It also plans to expand its presence in two fast-growing markets - in Brazil and Indonesia.

Brainly has become one of the world's largest educational communities, achieving significant organic growth in more than 35 countries. This growth confirms the high quality of the platform and the value of user experience, which enables students and their families to succeed with a variety of learning needs. Learn Capital is pleased to support Brainly's team, which is working on an ambitious roadmap for product development to become known in every family where there are students, both in the US and around the world, commented on Vinit Sukhija, partner at Learn Capital.

The massive transition to distance learning has proved to be quite a test for children of all ages due to problems with access to individual learning. So, according to a survey of 7,900 users from Russia and the CIS on the platform Znanija.com in the spring of 2020, 28% of respondents called the lack of interaction with the teacher difficult. Indeed, success in education is directly related to the availability of reliable channels where students can get help, and the pandemic has confirmed this. The funds raised will allow us to accelerate the development of Brainly to support as many children as possible who have switched to online learning or go to school, but need additional help with homework. We will also continue to actively expand cooperation with parents and teachers, which is also necessary for a successful educational process, emphasized Michal Gwyazdowski.