Skillbox Skilbox

History

2024

Grafika Drawing School Capital Exit

In August 2024, it became known that the EdTech company Skillbox sold its minority stake in the Grafika drawing school. The financial terms of the transaction as of the specified date were not disclosed, but it is known that the founders of the platform became the buyers of the package. Read more here.

Increase in the share in the online English school "Caspa" to 71.83%

In June 2024, Skillbox increased its stake in Caspa, an online English school, to 71.83%. This is evidenced by the data of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRUL). Read more here

2023: Gaining control at the online English school "Caspa"

Skillbox's share of Casp's online English school rose from 30% to 51%. This became known on August 28, 2023. Read more here.

2022

Buying 10% from Grafika

On December 9, 2022, the EdTech company Skillbox announced the purchase of a share (10%) in the network of drawing schools and. programming Grafika Financial the terms of the agreement are not disclosed. After the completion of the transaction, its participants plan to create a joint venture. More. here

Opening of the first offline schools

On May 23, 2022, the online educational platform Skillbox announced the opening of its first offline schools. The first of them - in Krasnodar - has already begun to work. Two more will be launched by the end of 2022, and the fourth - in 2023.

According to Kommersant, citing a source familiar with the project, Skillbox's investments in it, together with the Grafika network of international schools, will amount to about 20-40 million rubles. The main direction of study at a school in Krasnodar will be design, in the future Skillbox plans to expand the line of programs. It is assumed that the theoretical part of the program will be held online, and practical - in a mixed format. Skillbox added that they will focus on the regions, since there are not enough high-quality educational sites.

Online education platform Skillbox opens the first offline schools

Now in our focus - regions. There are a large number of schools in different areas in the capital, while there is a lack of high-quality educational sites in the regions, "explained Sergey Popkov, co-founder and program director of Skillbox.

Educational projects working only according to the online model face an outflow of students, says Aleksei Solovyov, founder of the investment company A.Partners.

The presence of a full-fledged offline increases the involvement of students and increases the degree of their loyalty, the expert believes.

At the same time, purely offline schools, according to Maxim Spiridonov, founder of Netology-Groups and Digital Dolina, are becoming a "luxury" due to logistics and rental and office equipment costs. He believes that ultimately all educational projects will come to a hybrid format.

It seems that the war of "formats" is already in the past. All companies use any methods in different proportions, "agrees managing partner Skyeng Alexander Laryanovsky.^[1]

Dismissal of employees due to centralization of processes

At the end of January 2022, it became known about mass layoffs among employees of online services Skillbox and GeekBrains. We are talking about reducing the staff of the educational holding Skillbox Holding Limited, which includes both EdTech projects. Read more here.

2021

Mail.ru Group has created an educational holding on the basis of Skillbox and GeekBrains

On August 10, 2021, Mail.ru Group announced the creation of an educational holding based on the EdTech services Skillbox and GeekBrains. The new structure was named Skillbox Limited. More than half (50.06%) of the company will be owned by the Mail.ru Group, 22.72% will be owned by the founders of Skillbox, and 14.21% will be owned by Alexander Galitsky's Almaz Capital Partners fund. Another 13% is reserved for a long-term employee motivation program. Read more here.

Buying 30% of CASPA's online English school

In early August 2021, it became known about the sale of the CASPA service to Skillbox. Under the terms of the agreement, the buyer will receive 30% in Sistema CESPA LLC, as well as options for increasing the share. The contract allows Skillbox to consolidate and manage the CASPA school and its brand. Read more here.

Opening of points of sale in the shopping center for 1 billion rubles

On July 9, 2021, it became known that Skillbox invested about 1 billion rubles in the opening of 60 points of sale in Russian shopping centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Samara, Yekaterinburg and other cities.

As Skillbox told Kommersant, it is planned to open the so-called "islets" in which it will be possible to buy courses, test the platform and pass career guidance tests. According to Dmitry Doli, sales director of Skillbox, the purpose of this experiment is to attract a new audience. The company expects that such a distribution channel will take a tenth of the portfolio of the educational platform.

Educational platform Skillbox opens dozens of points of sale in the shopping center

We want to empower more people to experience industrial education. At the same time, the decision to learn a new profession or take a course to deepen competencies in the existing one cannot be made impulsively. Therefore, we do not rely on on on-site sales, but give the necessary time to study products, the opportunity to take courses in test access and make an informed decision to buy or abandon it, - said Dmitry Share.

Skillbox will spend about 15 million rubles in the regions and about 20 million rubles in Moscow to maintain the work of each of the new points during the year, the company said. Skillbox expects that the annual revenue of one "island" in the shopping center will double the costs of its maintenance.

Those interviewed by the publication consider it logical for the company to go offline, noting that the possibilities for traditional methods of promoting products online are almost exhausted. At the same time, against the background of constantly changing restrictions on traditional retail trade, there are also risks for the development of such a project.

Unlike contextual or targeted advertising traditional for online business, the starting budget for this channel is very large, says Maxim Spiridonov, founder of Netology Groups and Digital Dolina. The main risk, in his opinion, may be that spending on attracting a client will be more than he will eventually bring.^[2]

Opening of an online master's degree in conjunction with RANEPA

Skillbox on February 26, 2021 announced the launch of an online master's degree in conjunction with the Institute of Economics, Mathematics and Information Technologies (EMIT) of the RANEPA. The first master's program opens in the direction of "Applied informatics," the profile - "Development of computer games."

Skillbox Online University continues to develop the direction of higher distance education available to everyone. The first online undergraduate Skillbox and RANEPA presented in the summer of 2020 - with a degree in Data Science & Machine Learning. In February 2021, Skillbox launches the first master's program, and it is not accidentally dedicated to game development. The gaming industry is experiencing a rapid rise - in 2020 alone, the market volume grew by 21% compared to 2019, which requires a significant increase in personnel. The program from Skillbox and RANEPA will allow beginners to start a career in the game industry and get into the professional community, and for experienced developers to improve their qualifications.

Students will master game design, learn how to create games on the Unity and Unreal Engine 4 engines, develop projects for mobile devices and virtual reality. Learn how to come up with stories for games, manage game projects and promote them on the market.

Thanks to a well-thought-out learning system, students will be able to combine study with work and create their own class schedule. Each student will have a personal account, seminars will be held online. Lectures in the recording will also be available, which can be listened to at any convenient time. You can communicate with teachers both in chats and in person by setting up meetings. In addition, Skillbox organizes an additional practical track - online workshops, mitapes, excursions to partner companies and will ensure the participation of students in industry conferences.

During the training, students will be accompanied by a curator - he can be contacted on any educational and organizational issues. Also, students will receive career advice and help in drawing up resumes. As a result of the training, students will collect a portfolio and have the opportunity to take an internship with Skillbox partner companies.

The academic program of the master's degree is based on the quality standards of the RANEPA and takes into account current approaches to the training of competitive specialists, as well as the requirements of Russian and foreign companies for applicants. Skillbox has been integrated into the training program a practical-oriented track and industry expertise from representatives of the Russian IT market. Students receive a reprieve from the army, and after completing their studies, a state-issued diploma. The program will last 2 years.

2020

Message about the death of Skillbox co-founder Igor Koropov in Adler

On November 6, 2020, the Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Krasnodar Territory announced the discovery of the body of a 31-year-old man. His identity has not yet been established, but the investigation believes that the deceased is Igor Koropov, who disappeared in Adler on the night of November 1. Read more here.

The disappearance of Skillbox co-founder Igor Koropov in Sochi

On November 2, 2020, it became known about the sudden disappearance of Igor Koropov, co-founder and program director of Skillbox Online University. This was reported on the page of the regional branch of the Liza Alert organization in the Krasnodar Territory. Read more here.

Mail.ru Group buys 10% of the company from Andrey Anishchenko and increases its share to 70%

Against the background of the growing demand for online learning during the пандемииMail.ru, the Group is increasingly investing in educational platforms. The holding increased its share in the Skillbox service to 70%, having bought 10% from the co-founder, and acquired 45% in the Tetrika online school, which offers to remotely prepare for the exam with a tutor. Although the spring surge in interest in online education is unlikely to repeat itself, projects with a focus on schoolchildren attract the most investments in this segment, market participants say.

Cyprus Lomigor Investments Ltd bought 10% in Skillbox from co-founder Andrei Anishchenko, without disclosing the amount of the transaction and details. According to the Cyprus register, we are talking about a subsidiary of the Mail.ru Group, that is, the latter increased its presence in the project to 70%. Mr. Anishchenko left Skillbox for his own projects on the same model in other countries, where "there is a high need for educational projects." Another 30% retained three other co-founders.

For, in to data Kartoteka.ru September 2020, Lomigor made another purchase in the educational sector, becoming the owner of 45% in Препреп.ру LLC, which is developing an online platform for preparing for the Tetrika exam. She offers to study with tutors in various subjects and was founded by immigrants from the educational company "Netology-Group" and "" a Yandex year ago.

The representative of Mail.ru Group Sergey Luchin confirmed the investment in Tetrika, specifying that the founders will retain 55%. Online education occupies an important place in the group's ecosystem, Mr. Luchin emphasized. The general director and co-owner of Tetrika Nikolai Spiridonov did not respond to a request from the source of^[3].

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