UK edtech startup Scoodle has raised more than €684K pre-seed funding from Biz Stone (Twitter’s co-founder), Tiny VC, IFG Ventures and a host of angels from Google, Miniclip, the University of Oxford and more.
Scoodle, founded in 2017, is helping tutors become influencers. After creating a profile, tutors can showcase their talents by sharing answers – a little like Quora. If students like what they see, they can book lessons. Scoodle hosts thousands of tutors from the UK’s best educational institutions, including the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London and more. With a team currently made up of ex-Google and UK government employees, Scoodle is also the first education-based company to join the University of Oxford’s accelerator, Oxford Foundry.
The story of London-based Scoodle began when its co-founder, Ismail Jeilani, couldn’t afford to go to university, and he didn’t want to take a student loan. Instead, he taught small classes. Within 2 years, he covered the cost of his entire degree.
“Tutors are content creators. They are constantly making amazing resources for students. They deserve to be recognised. Linkedin has created a professional identity. Facebook has created a social identity. Scoodle will create a teaching identity. One day, we’ll really make the Kim Kardashian’s of education.” said Ismail.
One of the biggest challenges in the space is finding a ‘good’ tutor. The platform uses content as a key differentiator. It allows parents and students to assess a tutor before enquiring or booking a lesson. Currently, tutors can share answers on their profile. In future, Scoodle aims to allow tutors to share all types of content including videos and learning resources.
Unlike other tutoring marketplaces, Scoodle is the first to charge 0% commission on bookings. After growing to 100,000 users across mobile and web, they’ve now introduced a subscription model for its user base. Tutors pay £10 a month for boosted listings, and the company says this can get tutors up to 30 times more enquiries. Similarly, there is also a subscription service for students. Anyone can book, message & access tutors’ content for free – however higher tier Scoodle Pro members can ask questions directly to tutors for a more on-demand service. only premium members can ask questions on the platform.