GoStudent: Europe’s newest edtech unicorn

Perfect match 

The model seems relatively simple. You have skilled and experienced teachers on one side, and students wanting to excel in specific subjects on the other. And the online setting means there are no barriers in the middle. 

Bridging different countries, specialisms, capability levels and interests, GoStudent strives to find the perfect match in each instance from across its ever-expanding network. 

“At the moment, we’re already booking more than 400,000 lessons a month,” said Ohswald. “We are active in 19 countries, having just expanded to Canada, Mexico, Chile and Colombia, and by the end of the year we plan to grow even more. On average, each kid is taking around eight sessions a month, so two each week. We have more than 6,000 teachers delivering these sessions around the world.” 

Remarkably, every one of these 6,000 teachers have gone through a stringent, three-stage interview process; accounting for their subject acumen, their presentation skills, and their sociability. In the UK, GoStudent is part of the Tutors’ Association, and enhanced DBS checks are carried out on all tutors.  

The end result is a more tailored and personable route to learning, that parents have especially come around to after a sceptical start. 

Transcending the sector 

Ohswald recalls that the idea of learning via a digital platform wasn’t overly appealing to many at the company’s outset. But as trust was instilled and success stories prevailed, a snowball effect gathered momentum, word of mouth kicked in, and the business began to scale rapidly. 

He also notes, however, that this same injection of enthusiasm hasn’t necessarily transcended the education sector as a whole yet. 

“Generally, there’s a stigma around education that hasn’t changed over decades, where anything that threatens the status quo is a crazy idea,” he said. “We’ve seen the same in many other sectors, like with healthcare and the idea of digital intervention to plug gaps in medical care.

“In that case, the solutions on offer aren’t trying to say that the institutions are bad, but are recognising that it’s simply impossible to provide optimum care for so many people just in those traditional ways. There will always be gaps in the service. It’s the same with education – we’re not trying to replace traditional learning, but to complement and bring value-add to it.” 

Ohswald added that even among investors in the early days, there was doubt over whether you could make money through innovating the education sector. 

“We would say, ‘But the market is so big’. In Europe, you have about 17 million kids aged six to 19 and their parents want to give them the best start in life possible. Meanwhile, you have so many amazing teachers realising they can tutor without leaving their homes, all at a time when online meetings and communication is becoming a norm. ‘How can this idea not make money?’” 

Recognised and celebrated 

And of course, GoStudent has made money. Both from sales of its service, and from almost $300m through raised financing, its new unicorn status is testament to timing, to interest, and to a proposed new future of education. 

Growing approximately 30% month on month, and already looking to double the number of employees to more than 1,000 people by the end of the year; being first to the punch in this niche sector is paying off. 

“We really want to channel this success into international growth, doubling down on market share in each of these new markets, before also expanding the actual offerings as well,” Ohswald said. 

“It’s funny looking back, it all started when my brother and I discussed the natural limitations you experience in school as a child. You’ll perhaps have one or two teachers you connect with, but I’m sure everyone also had classes they didn’t necessarily engage with, where they’d have benefited from filling that gap outside of the institution. 

“Our response was to use WhatsApp to connect kids to tutors for free – it seemed a really basic idea for something that was so beneficial. And we’ve since gone on to show that it’s not just a helpful idea, but a marketable one. 

“I’d love to imagine a time where schools and the traditional education sector realise the benefits as well, to a point where they could almost refer students who needed help to digital players such as us. We’re all working towards the same goal, and I hope the role of digital becomes more recognised and celebrated as we come out of this Covid-19 period.”