Tutoring titan
Billion-dollar European startup plugs into Austin with U.S. headquarters
A European online tutoring startup valued at $3.5 billion has planted its U.S. headquarters in Austin.
Vienna, Austria-based GoStudent said March 22 that it recently set up its U.S. outpost in Austin, in the WeWork space at 600 Congress Ave. The company plans to add more than 130 employees in Austin this year, including tutor management specialists, customer service professionals, and salespeople.
“We are looking for a bright and diverse workforce to fuel further growth,” Sam Best, U.S. manager of GoStudent, says in a company release. “Austin has a very attractive talent pool of multifaceted individuals. This makes it a very promising location for us to source [employees] fitting our culture in order to gain a leading position in the U.S. tutoring market.”
GoStudent, which operates in the rapidly growing edtech (education technology) space, was founded in 2016. It provides one-on-one, video-based online tutoring for K-12 students in 23 countries. Currently, customers book more than 1.5 million tutoring sessions per month, and the company employs over 1,700 people around the world and works with about 19,000 tutors.
GoStudent hired Best to lead its entry into the U.S. market, which is populated by 50 million K-12 students. The company undertook a soft launch in the U.S. last November and hopes to rack up 150,000 monthly tutoring sessions in the U.S. by end of this year.
“The market conditions we’ve found entering the U.S. are advantageous. We expect a high-quality tutor supply, due to the strong number of top universities and the fact that university students pursue side jobs while studying,” says GoStudent’s chief growth officer, Laura Warnier, who is overseeing the company’s global expansion.
In January, GoStudent raised $340 million in venture capital, lifting its valuation to $3.5 billion. That makes it one of the highest flying startups based in Europe and gives it "unicorn" status, referring to a startup valued at $1 billion or more.
“GoStudent’s promise of affordable, personalized, and convenient tutoring will be a great aid to students here [in the U.S.], especially those in rural and lower-income areas,” says Vinny Pujji, managing partner at New York City-based Left Lane Capital, one of the startup’s investors.
GoStudent joins the growing list of global tech companies betting big on Austin, including U.S.-based Apple, Facebook, and Google, as well as international companies like Rivery and REE Automotive, who both opened new offices in Austin last year.
