The Preply international marketplace for finding tutors has raised a new $10 million round of funding. London-based Hoxton Ventures acted as a lead investor in the round.
According to a press release of the company, Point Nine Capital, All Iron Ventures, The Family, EduCapital, and Diligent Capital also participated in the round along with angel investors: Arthur Kosten from Booking.com; Gary Swart, ex-CEO of Upwork; David Helgason, founder of Unity Technologies; and Danielle Hoffer, founder of Couchsurfing.
The funding will help the company strengthen its position in North America, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the UK. Besides, Preply will open a branch in the United States.
In addition, Preply also expands the platform. The startup plans to launch new tools for its tutors and to develop a mobile application for Android and iOS.
“The new funding allows us to bring a more in-depth, immersive and convenient experience to both tutors and learners all over the world. Today, we are laser focused on language learning, but ultimately, I envision a future where anyone can learn anything using Preply,” CEO of Preply Kirill Bigai said in a statement.
The startup was founded in 2012 by Bigai, Serge Lukianov (Head of Product Design) and Dmytro Voloshyn (CTO) with offices in Kyiv and Berlin. The company currently employs 125 staff.
The international marketplace for finding private tutors Preply has pulled in $4 million in the seed round. Lead investor was Point Nine Capital, Berlin-based venture fund, investing in SaaS and marketplaces at early stages. “Investors in Preply’s seed round include Arthur Kosten (ex-CMO at Booking.com, 2003-2012), Polish VC RTAventures, founder & CEO of DocPlanner Mariusz Gralewski, Poland’s Grupa Pracuj EO Przemyslaw Gacek, Diligent Capital Partners (Ukraine) and SMRK (Ukraine),” Preply reported.
“Next year we plan to become the leading marketplace for finding private tutors of foreign languages in the world,” co-founder and CEO of Preply Kirill Bigai said.
Managing Partner of Point Nine Capital Pawel Chudzinski, in turn, said that the fund took this opportunity to enter the fragmented online tutoring market, evaluating the focus on consumer experience and global proof of the concept, and will contribute to the efforts of the Preply team to win leadership on it. The new round of financing will support the long-term development of new products, including the Preply calendar, instant booking options, and the launch of a mobile application.
In addition, the funding allowed Preply to open a second office in Berlin and build up a team of senior professionals working on the product: managers, designers and developers. In the near future the startup plans to search and appoint VP of Marketing.
The company was founded in 2012 by Bigai, Sergey Lukyanov (Head of Product Design) and Dmytro Voloshyn (CTO) with offices in Kyiv and Berlin.
