Brainly Closes $80M Series D Round

12/17/20

Michal Borkowski

Brainly, the world's largest online learning platform, announced today the successful completion of an $80M Series D round led by existing Brainly investor, Learn Capital, and included Prosus Ventures, Runa Capital, MantaRay, and General Catalyst Partners. Total funds raised to date is approximately $150M.

Brainly was established to directly support students and their parents, as opposed to most educational technology (EdTech) companies that have built solutions to serve middle school and high school students which cater to educational institutions. Validating its differentiated approach, Brainly is used by more than 350M students, parents, and teachers every month, 30M of which are based in the United States. Since April 2020, its user base has increased by more than 75%.

"We recognized that students require a peer-to-peer learning platform. The growth of this model has accelerated as a result of the global pandemic, forever changing the way students learn. Today, Brainly is the de facto resource for students and parents seeking help with homework from their peers and experts," said Michal Borkowski, CEO and co-founder of Brainly. "While Brainly has demonstrated a high rate of growth for years, over the past six months, we have achieved growth milestones that we had projected to hit over the next few years. We receive immensely positive feedback from students, parents, and teachers using Brainly, so there are no signs of this growth slowing down anytime soon."

Funds from the round will be used to bring new products to the Brainly community for both students and their parents. On a global level, Brainly will expand its presence in Brazil and Indonesia, two high-growth markets.

"Brainly has become one of the world's largest learning communities, achieving significant organic growth in over 35 countries," said Vinit Sukhija, Partner at Learn Capital. "This growth 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. Learn Capital is excited to support the Brainly team as it executes on an ambitious product roadmap en route to becoming a household name, both in the United States and around the world."

The mass transition to virtual learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted children across all age groups. A recent poll released by the National Parents Union, shows that the majority of students (58%) are still studying virtually with reduced access to vital one-on-one instruction. The pandemic has underscored what was already known about learning — that students can only succeed when they have access to trusted channels to ask for help.

Borkowski concluded, "These funds will be used to accelerate growth and enable Brainly to deliver much-needed online educational resources to the hundreds of millions of students and parents around the world who have transitioned to online learning during the global pandemic, as well as those who attend school in-person but require additional help to complete their homework assignments.

About Brainly:

Brainly is the world's largest online learning platform where students and parents go from questioning to understanding. At brainly.com, and its group of websites and apps around the world, students connect their peers and experts to both receive and offer help with homework problems and questions. The unique opportunity to freely ask questions and gain the confidence that comes from helping others inspires students to learn in a collaborative community that receives more than 350 million users each month.

About Learn Capital:

Learn Capital is a venture capital firm focused on breakthroughs in education technology. For over a decade, Learn has funded companies pursuing scalable learning platforms and cloud-powered instructional services for people of every age and background, on nearly every continent. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Learn Capital supports entrepreneurs and learning innovations globally. For more about the firm, visit learncapital.com.

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