GoStudent, the Vienna-based edtech unicorn, has acquired UK-based Seneca Learning and Spain’s Tus Media Group. The acquisitions will help GoStudent achieve its goal of becoming the leading global school and a leading education provider by expanding its reach into markets previously not addressed by the Austrian unicorn.
The acquisitions come just weeks after the startup raised €300M in a Series D funding led by Prosus. GoStudent has raised a total of €590M. It is roughly valued at €3B and is one of the success stories among European edtech startups able to ride the digitisation of education during the pandemic.
GoStudent’s acquisition strategy is about strengthening its platform
The acquisition of Seneca Learning and Tus Media Group follows the acquisition of Fox Education, an Austrian all-in-one school communication solution, in 2021. The acquisition follows the strategy of gobbling up companies that have similar vision and can be integrated with GoStudent’s existing solution.
The edtech unicorn plans to leverage Seneca Learning’s expertise to integrate algorithmic learning content on its platform. Tus Media, which provides an open tutoring marketplace, will help GoStudent expand its access to the addressable market. GoStudent says both the acquired companies will continue to operate independently under their current leadership teams and continue to use their brand names.
While terms of the deal were not disclosed, Crunchbase shows that Seneca Learning, established in 2016, did not previously take any venture capital backing. Tus Media is also privately owned but has unspecified backing from Barcelona-based investor Redarbor.
Seneca Learning is the fastest growing freemium homework and revision platform in the UK. It has approximately 7 million students who rely on algorithms to help them remember topics more easily. The UK-based edtech startup has courses tailored for 1,000 KS2, KS3, GCSE & A-Level based on exam board specifications. GoStudent plans to integrate Seneca Learning’s algorithms and AI-based features into its membership.
GoStudent sees this as an opportunity to enrich value for the students on its platform who will have access to the tool during tutoring sessions as well as get smart learning content that will help them memorise subject material at their own pace. In addition, GoStudent also plans to bring Seneca Learning’s services to markets outside of the UK.
Felix Ohswald, CEO and Co-Founder of GoStudent, says, “The United Kingdom is one of GoStudent’s core regions, and we aim to become the market leader. We have listened to the needs of our customers, and adding a content platform to our core offering is an important strategic step for us, allowing us to further enrich our learning offerings and diversify our portfolio.”
“Working with Felix and the GoStudent team will allow us to bring Seneca’s free content & personalised learning experience to millions more students in different countries across the world. The team is excited to build on our success in the UK and take our product international to give more children access to an amazing free education,” says Stephen Wilks, Co-Founder and CEO of Seneca Learning.
Tus Media, on the other hand, offers GoStudent an open marketplace for tutors serving 4 million students. The Spanish startup was founded in 2011 with the idea of bringing teachers, students and academies together, and let them arrange for online or offline tutoring sessions. The first service from Tus Media called “tusclasesparticulares” has become a leading marketplace for connecting students with teachers in Spain and has seen growth in several European and LATAM countries.
ClassGap, the second product from Tus Media, provides a virtual classroom for individualised remote teaching experience. GoStudent sees both the products as fit for its own platform. The convergence of these two platforms will see students get access to “structured, sustainable, long-term tutoring support”.
“The acquisition by GoStudent gives us the thrust to further scale Tus Media with all its brands to new markets and expand to even bigger regional geographies. I am excited to continue in my role as CEO to ensure Tus Media’s success and grow the team further,” says Albert Clemente, Founder and CEO of Tus Media Group.
Gregor Müller, COO and Co-Founder of GoStudent, says, “Albert Clemente is one of the most passionate and dedicated education entrepreneurs we have ever met. Working with him as a partner and learning from each other will allow us to get one step closer to becoming the number 1 global school.”
GoStudent: what you need to know
GoStudent was founded in Vienna in 2016 by Felix Ohswald and Gregor Müller. The edtech unicorn offers paid, one-to-one, video-based tuition to primary, secondary and college-aged students and relies on a membership model for its revenue. It has been backed by investors including Prosus Ventures, Left Lane Capital and SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
The startup offers a virtual learning environment for students in over 30 subjects and currently serves customers in over 22 countries. It employs more than 1,500 people and works with over 15,000 tutors. The stats on its webpage don’t lie about its success. GoStudent sees over 1.5 million tutoring sessions booked each month on its platform.
