Naspers Invests In US-Based Ed-Tech Startup Brainly
Naspers, one of Africa’s biggest companies has announced its investment in New york-based ed-tech platform Brainly.
The SA company has revealed it is the lead investor in a new funding round worth ZAR 427 Mn. Other participants in the round are Runa Capital and Manta Ray. The new funding brings the total raised by Brainly to ZAR 974 Mn.
The investment will be channeled to upgrade Brainly’s user experience and create the next generation of the platform.
Additionally, the funds will be used to expand Brainly’s user base.
Brainly is an ed-tech and social learning network platform which offers educational resources to students, parents, and teachers. It is a peer-to-peer internet business that enables its users to help each other with schoolwork problems.
“We have been impressed by Brainly’s growth over the past 10 years, particularly in the US, and high-growth markets like India, Indonesia, Turkey, and Brazil,” said Larry Illg, CEO of Naspers Ventures.
“At Naspers, we extend our support to companies that can address grave societal needs like education, helping them fulfill their vision with the ultimate aim of bringing about a change at a global scale,” he said.
With over 150 million monthly unique users, Brainly currently reaches students, teachers, and parents across 35 countries in solving their academic problem.
Brainly CEO and Co-Founder Michał Borkowski said, “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.”
He added, “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.”
The e-learning platform is also expanding to India and Naspers led a USD 540 Mn funding round into another ed-tech platform Byju. The platform has recorded 200 percent growth.
Featured Image Courtesy: Memeburn
