StuDocu Raises US$50M to Expand Its Knowledge Sharing
Amsterdam (NL), May 2021 - StuDocu, an Amsterdam-based edtech startup offering an online platform for students to exchange knowledge, has announced its raising of US$50 million in a Series B funding round. The funding round was led by Partech, a Paris-based global venture capital firm.
Established in 2013 by four students - Marnix Broer, Jacques Huppes, Lucas van den Houten, and Sander Kuijk - StuDocu provides an online platform that allows students to share their study materials, including lecture notes, summaries, and practice materials, as well as exchange knowledge with fellow students. It aims to empower users to excel in their studies by providing the tools to students who want to study more efficiently.
StuDocu reports that it currently serves over 15 million students from 2,000 universities across 60 countries.
Speaking about the company and the latest development, Marnix Broer, Co-founder & CEO of StuDocu, said, "StuDocu is now in a very strong position to accelerate their global rollout, which will bring us closer to reaching their goal of helping students worldwide make the most of their studies.
Their top-notch international team and successful, profitable business model have brought us to the very healthy state we're now in. This investment is proof that we're on the right track to complete their mission and will ramp up their steep growth trajectory. With Patech's scale-up experience on board, StuDocu is well set up to reach even more students with even better products in the years to come."
StuDocu plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate its international expansion in markets including the UK, Germany, Canada, Australia, and the United States. With the investment, the company also plans to expand its product with new features and content; increase its team by hiring new talent; and also look for potential acquisitions toward achieving its mission to serve all 200 million college and university students globally.
Bruno Crémel, General Partner at Partech, said on the investment, "StuDocu is a platform already helping millions of students around the world, and we're excited to partner with this talented team in their mission to make education accessible to all.
When they met the team at StuDocu, they were wildly impressed with their data-driven culture and by how much students really love using their services. They look forward to working closely with Marnix and his team as they accelerate StuDocu's global expansion and develop even more innovative ways to support students in meeting their learning goals."
This is StuDocu's fourth funding round. It came after a year of growth during which the company more than doubled the number of its monthly active users. StuDocu had previously raised funding in 2015, 2018, and 2019.
StuDocu uses a "freemium" model: Eighty percent of its documents are freely accessible to anyone, and the top twenty percent - the content with the highest quality - is premium, which students have to pay for. Alternatively, students can view these premium documents for a specific number of days in exchange for uploading their own study materials. If the uploaded documents pass a quality assessment, submitters will earn fourteen days of full Premium access per accepted document, during which the premium content can be viewed for free.