StudySmarter, a German content-agnostic platform that digitizes the entire learning process of every learner, has recently raised $15 million (approx €12.5M) in a Series A funding round.
The round was led by global EdTech-focused venture capital firm Owl Ventures along with New York-based Left Lane Capital. Other investors, including Lars Fjelsoe-Nielsen (formerly WhatsApp, Uber, and Dropbox) and existing investor Dieter von Holtzbrinck Ventures (DvH Ventures), also participated in the round.
Founded by Christian Felgenhauer, Maurice Khudhir, Till Söhlemann, and Simon Hohentanner in 2018, StudySmarter turns any kind of text or content into an interactive course generated in part through the use of Natural Language Processing (NLP). It helps learners, professionals, and content publishers create their content, such as lecture notes, summaries, flashcards, exercises, and much more.
Currently, users can access more than 25 million pieces of content on StudySmarter’s platform. According to its website, StudySmarter has over 10 million summaries, 40 million+ index cards, with 800+ universities and 26,000+ schools on its platform.
Speaking about the company and on the latest development, Maurice Khudhir, Co-founder of StudySmarter, said,
“More than one in three students drop out because of challenges they face in their learning process. That’s why we founded StudySmarter as an intelligent platform that supports learners individually throughout their entire learning journey. Our platform has the power to enable access to digital education and ensure successful outcomes for hundreds of millions of learners across the globe. With Owl and Left Lane, we have found the perfect partners who share our vision to become the world’s central hub for learning.”
StudySmarter’s algorithm analyses the user’s pattern to build highly tailored courses, including automatically generating flashcards, creating a plan, prioritizing areas where there are learning gaps, scheduling calendars based on exam dates, sending reminders to study, and rewarding learning with badges and achievements.
The Munich-based startup plans to use the latest funding to accelerate its mission of becoming the global platform for lifelong learning.
StudySmarter claims it has gained more than 1 million new users, becoming the fastest growing learning platform for pupils and students in the Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (DACH) region in one year. The company is the digital content provider of many renowned publishers, including Pearson, and is used by global giants such as Amazon and BMW.
Earlier this year, StudySmarter was named “Official Best Educational App Gold Award Winner” by Wharton-QS Reimagine Education Awards 2020, also known as Oscars of Education. The spin-off of the TU Munich & LMU Munich has also launched the #SmartMINT initiative earlier this year to promote a career in the STEM fields among female students.
