History
2021: Launch of investment platform
In mid-October 2021, it became known about the launch of an investment platform to finance projects in the field of educational technologies. The service is called Ripe.
The essence of its work is the provision of a simplified credit mechanism. The Ripe scoring system automatically connects to the potential customer's financial data to evaluate them.
The period of consideration of the application takes no more than two days due to the automatic connection of the Ripe scoring system through the API to the customer's financial data. Access to funding is available within a week. Usually, the funding volume is two to three monthly revenues, and the interest rate is determined based on the forecast of financial indicators.
The creators of the Ripe project raised $500 thousand for its implementation. As one of the founders of the company Maxim Avdeev noted, EdTech startups often find it difficult to find money for development in the bank, since they do not have collateral and it is difficult for them to draw up the necessary documents. Venture financing is also not suitable for everyone: transactions close for a long time, valuation multipliers are low, structuring is not clear to funders, many are not ready to give a share, and in the future - and project management, he said.
Natalia Tsarevskaya-Dyakina, adviser to RIPE, head of the Skolkovo EdTech department, CEO and founder of Ed2 EdTech accelerator, says that by October 2021, up to 80% of Russian EdTech projects need additional funding, including the development and implementation of a marketing strategy.
We see an explosive increase in interest in online education by consumers and, accordingly, an increase in the number of new market players. One of the factors inhibiting the development of EdTech in Russia and the world is underfunding, "she said.[1] |