Just a year after its previous round, Russian edtech startup Kodland secured $9 million in a Series A funding round.
As reported by TechCrunch, the round was led by Redseed, with participation from Baring Vostok, Kismet, Flyer One Ventures and Alexander Nevinsky, a partner at I2BF who took part in the December 2020 round. All these investors have roots in Russia, excepted Flyer One whose team is essentially from Ukraine.
Founded in 2018, Kodland initially worked as an offline school for novice developers in nine Russian cities. According to media reports, the founders, Alexander Nosulich and Oleg Heifets, initially put some 2 million rubles ($32,000 at that time) in their business.
After the young company went online in 2019, the number of students jumped from a hundred to some 7,000 in late 2020 and 10,000 in early 2022.
Programming courses across the world
Now headquartered in London, Kodland offers seven main courses for children aged 6-17. These remote courses focus on creating websites and games in Unity and advanced Python The price ranges from $133 for four weeks to $1,385 for 64 weeks, with variations depending on the user’s region and language of instruction.
The courses are currently available in Argentina, Canada, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Russia and neighbouring countries, the UK and the US, reports TechCrunch.
Under plans, Kodland will make available its courses in eight new languages within two years.
“During 2022 we will expand further in English-speaking countries, in addition to the UK and Ireland, enter Spanish-speaking countries and several countries in South-East Asia,” the startup told TechCrunch.
The startup will also use its latest capital injection for product development, and to support an in-house “accelerator” to help its best students monetize their digital creations.
Edtech on the rise
Edtech is trendy in Russia. The largest investment deals of last year included the acquisition of online education businesses in Russia and Brazil by VK Company; a $50 million capital injection into GetCourse, involving major Russian VC and PE funds; and a $10 million round for online programming school Algorithmics.
Smaller but notable startups having raised funds recently include Academy of Changes, StudyFree, Synchronization and Tizzi. The latter, which describes itself as a sexual wellness and education startup, announced in November 2021 the completion of a round of funding involving an undisclosed “international family office.”
