German edtech startup StudySmarter doubles its Series A investment, raises €13.7M from Goodwater Capital

The pandemic has increased the demand for edtech startups globally and impacted the future of learning. As a result, e-learning has become the new normal and investors understand the sector’s potential. Munich-based StudySmarter is one such edtech startup that is taking advantage of the trend.

In a recent development, the company announced that it has raised an additional $16M (approx €13.78M) in its Series A round from Goodwater Capital. StudySmarter raised $15M in its Series A round just five months ago in May.

The development follows the edtech’s record growth over the summer since the close of the initial Series A. The platform is among the most downloaded and used educational apps in more than 20 regions worldwide.

Capital utilisation

The company says the raised capital will be used to double down on its global expansion and in efforts to become the world’s largest content-agnostic learning platform.

Maurice Khudhir, co-founder of StudySmarter, says, “In just two years, StudySmarter has proven it has the power to enable access to digital education for hundreds of millions of learners across the globe. The way the platform has been embraced and used by our community is a testament to just how important and necessary our content-agnostic, lifelong learning approach is. It also shows that the issues experienced with learning and access are universal.” 

About StudySmarter

Founded in 2018 by Christian Felgenhauer, Maurice Khudhir, Till Söhlemann, and Simon Hohentanner, StudySmarter spun-off from TU Munich & LMU Munich. The platform turns any kind of text or content into an interactive course generated in part through the use of natural language processing (NLP).

It helps learners, professionals, and content publishers create their content, such as lecture notes and summaries, automatically. It generates flashcards, creates a plan, prioritises areas where there are learning gaps, schedules calendars based on exam dates, among other things.

Since its launch, users have created and shared more than 50 million learning materials, which is growing by 5 million every month.

The startup is headquartered in Munich and has recently more than tripled its workforce – growing from 70 to over 300 employees.

Recent growth

In its first year, StudySmarter added 1 million new users. It has nearly doubled this user base over the past four months and rolled out the platform globally to more regions including the US, UK, South Africa, Singapore, Indonesia, Canada, Ireland, and more.

StudySmarter has additionally expanded into its own content creation, via its new StudySmarter Originals feature. Using the amount of data about exams and curriculums it has access to globally, the company has generated quality content in collaboration with more than 100 teachers and handpicked educators.

StudySmarter has a commercial partnership with Pearson as well as deals with global giants such as Amazon and BMW who are using StudySmarter to reach potential employees and graduates via non-intrusive adverts. Also, new partnerships are set to be announced in the coming months.

Earlier this year, the edtech was named “Official Best Educational App Gold Award Winner” by Wharton-QS Reimagine Education Awards 2020, also known as the Oscars of Education. 

It also launched the #SmartMINT initiative earlier this year to promote a career in the STEM fields among female students. 

“The percentage of women in STEM courses (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) in Germany is alarmingly low. Therefore, it is StudySmarter’s goal to counteract this inequality,” the company mentioned in its official blog.