Netology, a major Russian online education platform featuring interactive video courses, announced last week that it had completed a Series A round of financing from InVenture Partners, a $100-million Russian venture fund. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed, but the company stated that the investor had secured a minority stake based on a $5.6 million valuation.
The cash will be used to further develop Netology’s interactive education platform, launch a mobile version and create new courses and training programs.
Netology was founded in 2011 by Maxim Spiridonov, a successful serial entrepreneur, and Julia Spiridonova-Mikeda, a marketing professional with broad experience in hi-tech businesses. Netology offers interactive online training in various Internet-related fields, from e-marketing to web design to e-commerce, in a manner comparable to international platforms Lynda.com and Teamtreehouse.com.
The courses, however, are tailored specifically for the Russian market. They offer a combination of video lectures and tests with game elements. Student performance is measured via interactive tests.
Users may access all available courses in exchange for a monthly payment of 590 rubles (approximately $17). The company claims that its courses have been completed by more than 3,000 users to date, and that its revenue tripled over 2013. The revenue amount has not been disclosed, however.
Several major online business education platforms have been launched in Russia over the past year. But these have not focused on the same areas or targets and do not offer the same tools, observed Netology COO Julia Zavyalova in an exchange with East-West Digital News.
Several domestic players with different focuses
Among these platforms is Eduson.tv, which launched in the spring of 2013 with $1 million in funding. With its courses offered in several languages, however, Eduson is more internationally oriented than Netology, which targets exclusively Russian-speaking users.
Besmart.net allows uploading and review of its educational and informative content. The company received a funding commitment of $4 million from the Hong-Kong based fund Education Matrix.
Another platform, Zillion.net, is backed by VTB24, a leading Russian bank. It offers webinars and online courses in marketing, sales, finance and management.
InVenture Partners, founded in 2012 by Sergey Azatyan and Anton Inshutin, targets consumer technologies, financial and telecom products, online marketing and ads, tourism and corporate services. Its portfolio currently includes the taxi booking service GetTaxi, virtual mobile network Fogg, travel agency OnlineTours, online ad agency GetGoing, and mobile payments service 2Can.
- A research partner of East-West Digital News, Netology has contributed to EWDN’s study on Russian e-commerce.
