Winc Academy, an Amsterdam-based online education platform, announced on Wednesday that it has secured $3M (approx €2.6M) in a Seed round of funding led by Rubio Impact Ventures and Dutch Founders Fund.
Vivid Ventures, an early-stage fund that led Winc Academy’s angel round in 2019, also participated in the round.
Funding utilisation
The funding will enable Winc Academy to educate 20,000 learners within a few years to gain skills that enable a career in tech. The company is planning to expand the leadership team with a COO and is also recruiting for senior roles in education, marketing, financial strategy, and tech.
“We are thrilled to bring Rubio and Dutch Founders Fund on board and to have the continued support of our angel investors. They bring a mix of expertise in digital products, international marketplaces, and social entrepreneurship. A strong combination that will help us achieve our purpose of giving everyone the chance at a better future by learning in-demand skills”, says Joran van Aart, CEO of Winc Academy.
Winc Academy: What do you need to know
Founded in 2018 by Marijn Pijnenborg, Carla Snepvangers and Joran
van Aart, Winc Academy offers online courses for anyone to learn in-demand digital skills.
According to the company, the self-paced courses with personal mentoring are designed to be combined with work or private life and prepare learners for a career as a developer, data analyst, and other in-demand tech jobs.
The average age of the student enrolling for the course is 35 years, claims the company. The course duration ranges from several weeks to 6 months full time, with an average tuition fee of €2,500.
Within a year, the Amsterdam-based scale-up increased its active student base by eight times, driven by the digitisation of work and accelerated by Covid. The scale-up is accredited by the Dutch NRTO and CRKBO.
Investors
Rubio Impact Ventures is an impact venture capital fund with €150M in assets under management.
The company invests in young, fast-growing companies that make a substantial global impact and realise this in a commercially scalable way. Rubio offers entrepreneurs the capital to grow along with expertise, network and the support they seek to realise their plans and accelerate results.
“Winc Academy aims to achieve lifelong learning and a secure job for all. They essentially offer careers, not courses, and enable everyone who has the ambition and grit an opportunity at a future-proof career in tech. Impact drive is strongly anchored in their DNA”, says Willemijn Verloop, founder of Rubio Impact Ventures.
Dutch Founders Fund is an early-stage venture capital fund from Amsterdam, started by a group of successful Dutch entrepreneurs – Laurens Groenendijk, Patrick Kerssemakers, Bas Beerens, Hidde Hoogcarspel and Remco van Zanten.
Since its launch in 2018, the fund has successfully invested in 16 companies. The fund has almost €100M assets under management.
“In just 3 years this team has built a scalable edtech platform with graduation rates far higher than others. By bringing together industry experts, mentors, and learners, Winc Academy is building a much-needed international marketplace in education” adds Patrick Kerssemakers from Dutch Founders Fund.