The pandemic has severely disrupted the framework of education globally. With in-person learning halted or interrupted, both parents and students have faced added pressure to adjust to the concept of remote learning. Brainly is a peer-to-peer online learning platform for parents and students that helps alleviate some of these challenges. At its core, the platform focuses on homework help and questions, where students can give or receive help in a trusted community. Not surprisingly, in 2020, the company experienced 75% growth for its freemium service and now has over 350M students in its community.
AlleyWatch caught up with CEO Michał Borkowski to learn more about the massive shift in online learning as a result of the pandemic, the company’s plans to expand its product offering and geographically, and the company’s recent round of funding, which brings the total funding to $148.5M.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
This $80M Series D round of funding is led by existing Brainly investor, Learn Capital, and includes Prosus Ventures, Runa Capital, MantaRay, and General Catalyst Partners. These funds are being used immediately on the continued expansion of our product lineup beyond homework help while pushing further into emerging global markets.
Tell us about the product or service that Brainly offers.
We’ve spent the last decades building the world’s largest online learning platform, where students and parents go from questioning to understanding. With over 350M users globally, we provide students and parents with a platform to connect, allowing them to both receive and offer help with homework problems and questions. The unique, peer-to-peer platform to freely ask questions is unlike anything else available and gives users the confidence that comes from helping others in a collaborative community.
What inspired the start of Brainly?
We realized that there was a real need to give students a safe and trusted digital platform specifically built for learning. My cofounders and I started Brainly driven by the conviction that collaborative online communities can empower students from around the world with knowledge and information.
How is Brainly different?
Brainly is unlike any other platform in this space, with organic word-of-mouth driving our exponential growth. Putting the balance of control in the hands of Brainly’s 350 M users to collaborate, share, and discover, has put us at a huge advantage as we don’t rely on institutions or B2B partnerships to drive growth. This has allowed us to create a platform that’s truly global and rapidly scalable in any market – just imagine what we can do with another $80M which is more than our entire funding to date.
What market does Brainly target and how big is it?
There are 1.2B students around the world, so the addressable market is huge and still largely untapped. While Brainly started as a tool for students, in 2020 we’ve seen that more and more parents are using the platform too, as a way to be more effective support for their kids during the shift to virtual learning. Even before the rise of remote learning, Grandview Research expected the smart education market to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 17.9% from 2020 to 2027. At Brainly we’ve seen growth of 75% since the beginning of 2020.
What’s your business model?
Primarily, Brainly operates in a “Freemium” model, allowing students and parents free access with an upgrade to Brainly Plus unlocking unlimited access without ads or interruptions.
How has COVID-19 impacted the business?
Covid has been a catalyst that will forever change how students and parents approach learning. While it’s caused more and more people to discover Brainly during 2020, the value that the platform brings is evergreen.
What was the funding process like?
While we were not actively looking for funding, we realized that this year offered some unique opportunities to leverage our growth and be more ambitious with our product plans. These are “once in a generation” market conditions that we have turned to our advantage in partnership with our existing investor Learn Capital.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
We have a track record that speaks for itself when it comes to homework help and the EdTech space. No other company has grown this rapidly with such little funding which is a testament to the strength of the community and a user experience that enables students and families to succeed given their varied learning needs.
We have a track record that speaks for itself when it comes to homework help and the EdTech space. No other company has grown this rapidly with such little funding which is a testament to the strength of the community and a user experience that enables students and families to succeed given their varied learning needs.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We’re expediting the delivery of several new, free and paid products beyond homework help to provide users with a more personalized, real-time experience. These products have been created with both students and parents in mind and we look forward to announcing them soon.
Additionally, we’re increasing our presence in key growth markets around the world with an immediate focus on Brazil and Indonesia.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
Beyond our expansion into new global markets, we’re embracing the growing importance of parents within the Brainly community. While students will always be the biggest group of Brainly users, we can see how significant parents are and the contributions they make across the board. When parents experience what learning looks like for kids today, they become more understanding of student needs and ultimately make the whole community and user experience more robust.
