“Profi” bought educational startup TutGood

The Profi specialist search service became the owner of 94% of the TutGood platform, through which you can issue a single subscription to classes with tutors for schoolchildren. About this “Vedomosti” was told in “Profi”, the company refused to disclose the amount of the transaction. One of the founders of TutGood, Konstantin Klimentyev, confirmed the deal.

TutGood was launched at the end of 2020 by Artem Tatulov, the son of Anastasia Tatulova, the founder of the Anderson cafe chain, the former public ombudsman for small and medium-sized businesses, together with partners Ivan Kolankov and Konstantin Klimentyev. The latter two are also co-founders of Prospect, a business gamification studio.

According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, before the transaction, Tatulov, Kolankov and Klimentyev each had 22.04% of Tutgud LLC. Former CEO “VTB Life Insurance Maxim Pushkarev owned 10.34%. Anastasia Tatulova – 4.67%, Getcourse co-founder Matvey Kalachev – 4.52%. Another 3% belonged to the co-owner of the companies “Evotek” and “Appstarter” Alexander Vasiliev. Management Technologies LLC (a subsidiary of the investment and construction holding Vostok-Development) owned 1.35% of the legal entity.

In April 2022, Profi became the owner of 10% of Tutgood LLC through its subsidiary Tutorion, Forbes wrote. The company then explained that they had invested in TutGood, but did not disclose the amount. Under the terms of the current deal, Profi will fully buy out the investors’ shares, while Tatulov, Kolankov and Klimentyev will each have 2%. “The founders of the company will continue to develop the service and keep part of their shares in order to implement the integration between the platforms as efficiently as possible,” explained the Profi.

TutGood allows you to make a single subscription to classes with tutors. It includes classes in school subjects, preparation for the OGE and the Unified State Examination, foreign languages, programming, vocals, etc. A package for 300 minutes or 7-10 lessons costs 5990 rubles. – it is valid for a month. Annual, which includes 6000 minutes or 140-200 lessons, costs 47,990 rubles.

According to SPARK-Interfax, the revenue of Tutgud LLC in 2021 amounted to 10.4 million rubles, the net loss was 18.4 million rubles. However, the company claims that in the first half of 2022, revenue grew 7 times compared to the same period last year, “despite the current contraction of the edtech market.” According to its own data, the service has more than 3,500 clients, more than 12,000 classes are held on the platform every month.

A TutGood representative told Vedomosti that the partnership with Profi would provide the service with “expertise and resources for rapid growth in the competitive edtech market.” At the same time, TutGood itself will retain full autonomy in operating activities, the source says.

The representative of Profi, in turn, hopes that the Russian edtech market will grow several times over in the long term. “For Profi, such a deal strengthens the strategic positioning of the leader in the services segment, and also provides an opportunity to implement the accumulated experience of the tutor vertical in a new business model,” he explained.

Andrey Taburinsky, the founder of the venture studio Around.Capital, estimates the amount of the deal at $500,000 with a possible option for another $300-500,000 at the end of the year. “An interesting business idea, not commonplace, which is rare in the edtech market,” he says of TutGood. “For the business experience of young guys, selling to a strong player is a good case, it will help in the next steps.” According to him, the founders should think about entering the Indian market, however, Taburinsky warns, this is a rather long process that requires investment and relocation.

At the beginning of last year, TutGood had plans to expand into foreign markets, but they had to be postponed due to the start of a special military operation (SVO). “So far, we are focusing on the Russian market,” a company representative specified.

Multipliers in edtech now reach 10 times the company’s revenue, says Dmitry Kalaev, director of IIDF acceleration programs. If last year TutGood earned 10.4 million rubles, and for half of this year about 35 million rubles, then its valuation may range from 100 million to 400 million rubles.

For a more accurate assessment, according to Kalaev, you need to know how much TutGood earned in the first half of this year and what the loss of 18 million rubles consists of. “It may well be that the startup is doing well and the unit economy is positive, but the money is invested in the business for rapid scaling and growth. And it is possible that TutGood’s business model does not converge and the investor saves a drowning man, then Profi buys technology, or a team, or clients, but not a business,” Kalaev said.

Last year, the situation on the Russian edtech market looked optimistic: according to Smart Ranking, the total revenue of the top 100 companies in this segment in Russia in 2021 amounted to 73 billion rubles, which is 70% more than a year earlier (43.8 billion rubles). At the end of 2022, an increase of about 50% was expected, but today analysts predict a fall of 50%, a representative of the GenerationS corporate innovation development platform told Vedomosti. “Demand for marketing and design has fallen noticeably. A stable situation is noted mainly only in the segment of additional professional education,” he added.

Among the reasons are a decrease in the solvency of the population, the departure of large vendors and software that can no longer be used for education, a decrease in the amount of advertising, etc., a representative of GenerationS explained. So far, the situation of uncertainty in EdTech, but the revenue of the top 100 companies in this segment amounted to about 20 million rubles. per quarter, which is a good indicator, he concluded.