Austrian online tutoring startup GoStudent gains valuation boost

BERLIN (Reuters) - Austrian online tutoring startup GoStudent has raised 205 million euros ($244 million) in new funding to reach a valuation of 1.4 billion euros, it said on Tuesday, as the business benefits from the pandemic-induced explosion in remote learning.

GoStudent said it will use the funds from investors including DST Global, SoftBank and China's Tencent to drive global expansion beyond the 18 European countries where it offers video-based online tutoring to students from kindergarten to high school.

"At the heart of GoStudent is our mission to build the No. 1 global digital school," said co-founder and Chief Executive Felix Ohswald.

GoStudent, founded in Vienna in 2016, books more than 400,000 tutoring sessions a month and its valuation has increased seventyfold since 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic focused interest in the provision of digital education.

The company has grown rapidly to more than 500 employees and has opened 12 offices. It plans to launch in Mexico and Canada this summer, doubling its team to more than 1,000 employees and 10,000 tutors by the end of the year.

Tencent was also among investors in Beijing-based education technology startup Yuanfudao, which last year secured $2.2 billion in two rounds of financing that it said lifted the company’s valuation to $15.5 billion.

($1 = 0.8400 euros)

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by David Goodman)