Vinco, a Mexican EdTech platform that connects employees to online education opportunities, has raised $2.4 million in its seed funding round led by Angel Ventures, a leading angel investment network in Mexico.
The round was also backed by investors like Alter Global and Reach Capital, as well as female investors like Claire Díaz-Ortiz, Beth Axelrod, and Holly Liu.
With the latest investment, the Monterrey-based company plans to grow in Mexico and expand to other Latin American countries.
Launched in April 2021 by Lissy Giacomán Colyer, Sofía Sada and Miriam Fernández, Vinco provides continuing education programs for workers. The company’s business model is based on a win-win vision: besides improving workers’ professional growth, it also serves as a retention tool for companies – especially those with high personnel turnover. By using tech tools, Vinco tries to offer a solution to both the country’s education gap and companies’ struggles with retaining their workers with the right incentives.
By offering education-related benefits for companies, Vinco wants to close the skill gap that currently exists in Latin America by adding millions of people to its ongoing learning program by providing education-related benefits to businesses.
Commenting on the funding, Hernán Fernandez, Managing Partner of Angel Ventures Mexico, said,
“We are happy to be part of the story of Vinco’s three great entrepreneurs… their value proposition is being very well received, and more and better names are using it.”
According to Vinco, 30-50 percent of online learners drop out within the first year. To mitigate this, the platform offers “coaches” to each student. Coaches help students register for the classes which can be a clunky process and then make sure the students stay on track and finish the courses.
Vinco has recently announced its partnership with the Chinese delivery and ride-sharing company Didi. The purpose is to help delivery personnel complete their school preparations. With this partnership, the startup offers preferential rates for over 700 educational programs available to the delivery personnel and their close relatives. Vinco’s educational catalog extends from language courses to the entire professional career.
Vinco mainly operates in Mexico, although it has some presence in Colombia and Spain. The company plans to venture into other countries in Latin America soon.
