Brainly Raises $80M to Fuel Crowdsourced Homework Help Growth

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly accelerated the adoption of virtual learning, with numerous schools transitioning to remote instruction or substantially enhancing their online resources to facilitate social distancing. This shift has subsequently driven increased demand for tools that support students in their home learning endeavors, and today, a prominent player in this space is announcing a new funding round reflecting the market’s potential.

Brainly, a Poland-based startup that has developed a widely-used platform connecting students and their parents for collaborative learning and homework assistance, has secured $80 million in Series D funding. The company intends to utilize these funds to further refine its existing student tools and to concentrate on expanding its reach into key emerging markets, including Indonesia and Brazil. This announcement follows a period of substantial growth for Brainly, which has seen its user community expand from 150 million in 2019 to 350 million currently.

Learn Capital, a previous investor, is leading the funding round, with participation from existing investors Prosus Ventures, Runa Capital, MantaRay, and General Catalyst Partners. To date, the company has raised approximately $150 million, and CEO and co-founder Michał Borkowski has confirmed that this round represents an increase in the company’s valuation. According to PitchBook estimates, the company was valued at $180 million in its prior Series C funding round of $30 million in 2019.

The Series C funding was specifically allocated to support Brainly’s growth within the U.S. market, where it currently has 30 million users. Notably, the U.S. is the only market where Brainly currently monetizes its user base; the platform remains free to use in all other regions. (The U.S. market also features significant competition, such as Chegg, which has a strong presence in the student homework help sector, with approximately 74% of Chegg’s revenue originating from this single country.)

“Brainly has evolved into one of the world’s most extensive learning communities, achieving considerable organic growth across more than 35 countries,” stated Vinit Sukhija, partner at Learn Capital.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Brainly was already attracting a user base of students – primarily those between the ages of 13 and 19 – who utilized the service to connect with individuals capable of providing assistance with challenging homework assignments, such as solving mathematical problems or understanding complex historical events like the Revolutions of 1848. The platform operates as an open forum, similar to Quora, where users can both seek and provide answers to questions of interest.

However, the transition to virtual learning dramatically amplified the platform’s importance, according to Borkowski.

“In many western countries, investment in online education was not substantial [before COVID], but this has undergone a significant change, with widespread adoption by students, parents, and educators,” he explained. “This rapid shift from in-person to online learning has created challenges for students, as teachers are often overburdened and unable to provide the same level of individualized attention.”

Consequently, the need for supplemental learning support has increased, with “homework” effectively becoming “all work.” While many parents have attempted to bridge the gap, “having parents serve as teachers has proven difficult,” he added, as their educational backgrounds or recollections may differ from current teaching methods or content.

Borkowski noted that Brainly has observed a growing trend of parents using the app alongside their children, either to collaborate on solutions or to seek assistance for themselves before helping their kids. Approximately 15-20% of all new registrations are now from parents, including those with children under the age of 13.

Brainly’s primary focus has been on enhancing the tools available to both students and parents, relying largely on organic growth within its communities.

Nevertheless, there is potential to broaden the platform’s scope to encompass a wider range of educational stakeholders, improving the organization and relevance of answers provided. Borkowski indicated that the company has received inquiries from educators and curriculum developers interested in aligning responses with common student questions, although the company currently “wants to maintain its focus on supporting students and parents facing difficulties.”

Looking ahead, Brainly is exploring the integration of tutoring services, video content, and artificial intelligence into its platform. The application of AI is particularly intriguing, as it could enable more tailored curriculum coverage based on localized needs.

For instance, if a user requests assistance with a specific type of quadratic equation, the platform could provide a series of practice problems to reinforce learning and suggest related topics that may appear on a broader mathematics exam. Additionally, users could be offered the opportunity to connect with a tutor for further guidance.

Borkowski stated that Brainly has already been quietly piloting tutoring services, having completed approximately 150,000 sessions to date. The company’s large user base allows it to operate these services at scale while maintaining a testing environment.

“The goal is to understand what students are studying and how to align that with the curriculum in their country, and to determine how we can best support them,” Borkowski said. “However, this will require significant effort and machine learning to accurately identify students’ needs, which is why we have not yet implemented it more broadly.”

Tutoring and increased personalization are not the only areas where Brainly is experimenting with new features.

The company is also expanding its capacity for incorporating video demonstrations of various techniques (which is particularly beneficial for subjects like mathematics, but also applicable to areas like art). This initiative is partially based on a 2018 acquisition aimed at enhancing the platform’s video capabilities, highlighting Brainly’s deliberate and strategic expansion approach.

Currently, “thousands” of videos are being added each week, but as with tutoring, “this remains a testing phase,” Borkowski added. Further announcements regarding new products are expected in the first quarter of the year.