Russian EdTech platforms intend to expand their presence in global markets

Russian EdTech platforms intend to expand their presence in global markets, and not only in friendly countries. In the third quarter, a number of projects launched their courses in New Zealand and Australia, along with India, Latin America, MENA and the CIS. According to experts, in the future, working abroad will be more attractive for small platforms that find it difficult to compete in the domestic market with its leaders. But in many cases, projects have to carefully hide their Russian roots.

General Director of Profilum (career guidance platform) Rafael Saryan told Kommersant that in the third quarter the company began to develop a strategy for entering the markets of MENA countries (North Africa and the Middle East), Latin America and India. In August, she signed a memorandum of intent on cooperation for $7 million with the Indian In Tandem Global Consulting; the company did not disclose details. Advance Educational Technology Center prepares educational products for English-speaking audiences. In particular, explained company founder Alexander Zgoda, Advance launched an advertisement for a memory development course for adults in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina in the third quarter.

According to the head of Ultimate Education, Pavel Moseykin, the company is increasing its presence in the CIS market (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus), increasing the number of courses available to the regions. Ultimate Education launched this direction in 2022. According to the company, revenue from the sale of courses in nine months increased by 936%, the number of sales by 530%. “The share of foreign revenue has doubled since the beginning of the year to 10% at the end of the third quarter,” said Mr. Moseikin. GeekBrains declined to comment. Skyeng, Skillbox and Netology did not respond to Kommersant’s requests.

“Online schools began to carefully consider entering foreign markets from the end of 2022,” notes a Kommersant source close to one of the large holdings. According to him, the first launches of projects abroad took place in the second quarter, “as quietly as possible for fear of a negative reaction to Russian origin.”

Russian EdTech platforms began expanding abroad back in 2020. The founder of the British Higher School of Design in Moscow, Alexander Avramov, former co-owner of Skillbox Andrey Anishchenko and former CEO of Yandex Verticals Pavel Aleshin opened an online school of digital professions EBAC Online in Brazil in June 2020. In March 2021, the founders of SkillFactory, Russians Alexander Turilin and Alexander Eroshkin, launched Coding Invaders in India. But in 2022, projects began to wind down due to sanctions and problems with payments. In September, it became known about the closure of the Refocus online school in Indonesia and the Philippines and the suspension of the Brazilian Mentorama, which is owned by Skillbox.

Now EdTech companies are counting on the Asia-Pacific region, says a Kommersant source in the market, due to the “low entry threshold.” Some projects abroad are difficult to track, since the founders try to “hide their Russian roots.” At the same time, large players like Skillbox are leaving foreign markets “for fear of sanctions and reputational risks,” a Kommersant source on the EdTech market clarifies: “Meanwhile, small platforms cannot compete with market leaders in the Russian Federation, so “More and more people are choosing to go abroad.”

The Russian EdTech market is in the stage of consolidation around two key players in the person of VK and Skyeng, so small companies are forced to either sell on the terms of the buyer or look for geographical alternatives, confirms the co-founder of the Reforma business club and educational projects “Netology”, “Foxford” and Edmarket Maxim Spiridonov. According to him, such companies are trying to enter regions that “lag behind Russia in terms of product development,” such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Latin America and the CIS countries.

Yulia Yurasova