South Africa-based internet and entertainment group, Naspers has announced its entrance into the Education Technology (EdTech) market with its $15 million investment in Brainly.
Naspers did this Series B investment through its recently opened division in USA, Naspers Ventures.
Launched in Poland in 2009, originally under the name Zadane.pl, Brainly has over 60 million users worldwide – students are generally between the ages of 13 and 18 – and entered the U.S. market in 2014. The Kraków Poland-based educational startup takes what’s best about traditional, offline student collaboration and brings it to the online space.
“Naspers is consistently looking to invest in the leaders in markets that have global scale and the potential to be transformed by technology. The sizeable education market is a perfect fit,” said Bob van Dijk, CEO of Naspers. “Improving education delivery is a huge focus in every region around the globe, and Brainly has identified a way that technology can help drive educational impact beyond the traditional classroom model. What is more, they have already proven their business works across geographies and we aim to accelerate their growth and impact worldwide.”
“Over 60 million students in 35 countries interact with Brainly every month.” said Michal Borkowski, CEO of Brainly. “We are convinced that our partnership with Naspers will allow us to accelerate this exciting growth globally, and double down on our focus in the United States.”
“Naspers Ventures’ remit is to find investment opportunities for Naspers beyond our traditional markets/segments but that are a strategic fit for the company,” said Naspers Ventures CEO Larry Illg. “We are looking for companies and leaders with high potential and the ambition to have significant global impact. Education is a sizeable market that has not yet seen the technology impacts we have seen in other sectors, but we are now seeing dramatic innovations appearing. That makes EdTech a perfect fit for Naspers Ventures.”
Naspers is one of the largest technology investors globally and has helped build and grow some of the world’s most successful internet companies. The operating and investment strategy is to back innovative companies where there is high potential to create value over time. Finding new segments and markets such as EdTech with significant global potential will continue the company’s growth.
