The venture structure of VimpelCom became a co-owner of the exam preparation service “New School”
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The VimpelCom structure, through which the operator carries out venture investments, has become a co-owner of the New School exam preparation service. Within a month, the company invested in at least two edtech projects: its deal with the personnel training platform Kampus was previously known. Previously, analysts noted the growth of the market for educational services, especially aimed at children. However, they are skeptical about the prospects of projects designed primarily to prepare students for the Unified State Exam and the Unified State Exam.
Hive LLC (100% owned by VimpelCom, engaged in venture investments) on November 7 acquired 16.4% in Novaya Shkola LLC, the owner of the online preparation service for state exams of the same name (USE and OGE), follows from the data of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities . VimpelCom confirmed to Kommersant that they invested in New School, without disclosing the amount of the transaction.
New School LLC was created in December 2021 and received a license for educational activities in June 2022. The oldest recordings of educational webinars preserved on the project’s social networks were published in 2019. In February 2023, company co-founder Timur Safin in an interview TAdviser stated that the service raised 67 million rubles. investments; the composition of investors was not disclosed.
The revenue of Novaya Shkola LLC for 2022, according to SPARK-Interfax, is 3.2 million rubles, the net loss is 4.15 million. 39.7% of the authorized capital belongs to its founder and general director Albert Fatkhutdinov, 33, 5% – Timur Safin, 10.4% – Arkady Dudin. The latter is also listed as the owner and general director of Kollinvest LLC, the holder of the rights to the trademarks of the brand of spare parts for electronics ZeepDeep and the PartsDirect store specializing in them.
The venture structure of VimpelCom has already been involved in edtech projects: for example, in November the company announced the acquisition of 12% of the Kampus corporate training platform. In March 2023, during a pitching session, representatives of the operator met with educational startups, mainly corporate (Edwica, Solvery, SkyTrainer).
According to the results of the third quarter, the market for educational services increased by 38% year-on-year, while the children’s education sector is growing faster than the adult sector, the Smart Ranking agency noted (see “Kommersant” dated November 1).
Ultimate Education CEO Pavel Moseikin believes that the trend will continue: “There is a high demand for children’s education, parents continue to invest in their children’s education, and there is also a noticeable increase in government interest in the sector.”
The segment of exam preparation services, however, has its own specifics, says Smart Ranking analyst Margarita Aranovskaya: “It is characterized by the problem of a short life cycle: the client passes the exams and leaves the site. The same additional education platforms that work with students right from primary school get a client for eight to ten years.” She added that all major online schools have exam preparation programs; “competition in this segment is high.”
Projects designed exclusively for preparing for exams periodically appear on the market, but “we haven’t seen any breakthrough stories for a long time,” added Ms. Aranovskaya: “Such services can quickly increase their user base by dumping and investing in marketing.” A Kommersant source on the edtech market called New School a “niche project”: “Perhaps the children’s segment of online education is not a priority for VimpelCom, and it decided to invest in it with minimal losses for the fund.”
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