Austria’s edtech unicorn GoStudent secures €86.7M to create personalised learning solutions

Vienna-based GoStudent, an online platform that connects students to teachers in a virtual learning environment, announced on Friday that it has secured $95M (approximately €86.79M) in a mix of equity and debt funding.

The round saw participation from Deutsche Bank, Left Lane Capital, DN Capital, Tencent, Prosus, DST, Coatue, and Softbank Vision Fund 2.

Capital utilisation

The startup says it will use the funds to realise its hybrid vision and double down on AI integration.

GoStudent and Studienkreis, an offline tutoring company acquired by GoStudent in 2022, plan to use the funds to enhance education in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland). They aim to offer hybrid learning solutions to meet the diverse needs of students. 

With 61 per cent of parents seeking a blend of online and offline support, the companies will provide tailored packages, including 1:1 online tutoring, group offline lessons, and sessions through GoVR, a virtual reality language learning platform. 

This approach aims to offer flexible and personalised education to students in the region.

GoStudent will also focus on AI-driven tools to enhance its hybrid educational strategy, leveraging the projected $10-20B global market size of AI in education by 2027.

GoStudent co-founder Felix Ohswald says, “More immediately, though, families will have total flexibility via our hybrid model. If the preference is for offline tutoring, but the family is travelling for summer, 1:1 online lessons can be booked to ensure momentum is not lost. Or, if a child loves to learn English together with other children, but needs 1:1 support in mathematics, we can make this happen.”

“For us, hybrid is about ensuring long-term learning success that suits the needs of the individual. This raise ensures we seize this opportunity, and signals confidence that we are driving the future of education,” adds Ohswald.

Europe’s highest-valued edtech company

Founded in 2016 by Felix Ohswald and Gregor Müller, GoStudent aims to help students reach their full potential and replace traditional tutoring through online teaching. 

The startup offers a digital learning platform for online teaching and paid individual courses for all school subjects.

To date, it has raised over €675M. Embracing the hybrid education model, GoStudent has expanded its offerings through acquisitions, including Seneca Learning, Tus Media, Fox Education, and Studienkreis.

GoStudent’s platform uses a membership model and provides paid, one-on-one, video-based tuition to primary, secondary, and college-aged students in more than 30 subjects. 

Currently, the platform employs 1,500 people and works with over 23,000 self-employed tutors. The company serves customers in 15 countries and over 11 million tutoring sessions are booked each month.

The company will also introduce AI-driven content-based learning to its platform, meaning students can study in between lessons, engaging with content tailored to their specific needs.

Ohswald says, “We see daily the impact that tailored learning can have on a child’s confidence. By offering AI-driven study support or virtual reality lessons in group environments, alongside traditional tutoring, a truly bespoke learning path can be created for each individual child – readying them for their future.”