Austrian edtech startup GoStudent expands its digital one-to-one tutoring service beyond Europe for the first time. After securing a Series B investment of €70 million at the end of March, GoStudent launched its platform in Russia in May, to be followed by Mexico and Canada this summer.
Founded in 2016, GoStudent’s digital learning platform brings students of all ages together with carefully selected teachers in a virtual one-on-one classroom setting. GoStudent is one of the highest funded and fastest growing B2C education startups in Europe, with 11 office locations, a presence in 18 countries, 500+ employees and 5000+ tutors. Around 350,000 tutoring sessions are booked monthly.
GoStudent’s digital learning platform connects students of all ages in individually designed, virtual lessons with carefully selected teachers. The fact that the service is highly popular amongst parents, motivates the founders Felix Ohswald and Gregor Müller to continue the company’s rapid growth and bring the vision of building the global school to life.
In the last 10 months, GoStudent set foot in European markets such as Great Britain, Ireland, Spain, France and Greece and has strengthened its position as a leading online tutoring provider. Now, the Austrian edtech is boldy crossing those borders outside of Europe. At the beginning of May, GoStudent officially launched in Russia, Moscow and is preparing to expand its services to Mexico and Canada this summer. Additionally, GoStudent will also enter the Polish market in anticipation of it’s further expansion in Eastern Europe.
Felix Ohswald, Co-Founder and CEO of GoStudent on the advancing internationalization of his company: “In less than a year, through the excellent work and passion of our ever-growing team, we were able to scale GoStudent from a tutoring provider in the German-speaking market to a European level and secure the market leadership for digital tutoring in Europe. Now we are ready to expand our services in promising tutoring markets on other continents.”
Gregor Müller, Co-Founder and COO of GoStudent added: “We connect every student with the ideal tutor. The perfect-match-principle is key to ensure one-on one-tutoring in top-quality. We focus on sustainable learning success which is affordable and completely independent of location. This way, we can enable every child worldwide to unlock their full potential.”
With the launch of new markets outside of Europe for the first time, GoStudent reaches a fundamental milestone on its way to becoming a global player in the digital tutoring sector. Laura Warnier, GoStudent’s Chief Growth Officer responsible for internationalization, on the expansion strategy: “Our goal is to be the first digital tutoring provider in countries with high market potential and thus benefit from first-mover advantages, such as building strong brand awareness and customer loyalty before other market players jump on the bandwagon.”
GoStudent describes its market entries in Russia, Mexico and Canada as “test markets”. Important experience is to be gained here before the Vienna-based edtech pushes the launch of neighbouring geographic regions with similar market conditions. Mexico, for example, has a high market volume with approximately 28 million school children. In Canada, millions of internet users live in remote locations and currently have to travel long distances to have access to private tutoring for their children. “Once we have successfully established our service in Mexico, we will have already taken a big, first step towards expanding our service in Latin America. In Canada, we can gain important insight for entering the English-speaking, American continent much more cost effectively than in the US.”
GoStudent’s team has grown from 160 to over 500 employees since the beginning of the year. As part of its rapid growth, approximately 500 more positions will be filled by the end of the year. Currently, talents with and without professional experience are being hired in departments such as Sales, Customer Success and Tutor Community Management in 11+ international locations and for future offices.
