Course Hero, an online learning platform providing course-specific study resources, has raised additional $70 million in extension of its Series B funding round, the company has announced recently.
The funding brings the round to $80 million, and the company’s total raise to date to $95 million. Course Hero has raised $10 million in its Series B round in February 2020 and $15 million in Series A in 2014. Its $80 million Series B round is one of the largest US funding deals 2020, and brings its valuation to $1.1 billion.
Founded in 2006, Course Hero is on a mission to help students graduate confident and prepared. The platform provides students course-specific study materials for every subject, 24/7 homework help, and textbooks solutions with step-by-step explanations, and connects students with expert tutors for Q&A sessions.
Course Hero’s unique collective action framework enables students to subscribe or contribute their own resources to earn a Netflix-like subscription to more than 40 million course materials, tutoring and support resources. The company claims to have over one million subscribers, more than 40,000 verified educators, and 200+ teaching best practices on its platform.
Redwood City-based Course Hero sees opportunity in the growth of non-traditional students enrolling in and participating in higher education. According to Andrew Grauer, Co-founder and CEO of Course Hero, more than 40% of students work 30 hours or more per week, and over a quarter of students are parents, and of that quarter, over 70% are single moms. Seeing this as an opportunity for the company, Grauer told TechCrunch, “Because that’s the reality, and because we can make an affordable subscription and the economics can work, Course Hero is aligned to serving the majority, the real majority, and that’s the beauty of opportunity.”
Course Hero offers its subscription per month at $9.95 for an annual plan and $39.99 for monthly plan.
The company claims its annual run revenue surpassed $100 million last year and is on track to exceed that in 2020. It said that the number of questions asked on its platform has tripled since the pandemic.
In July, Course Hero launched the Educator Exchange, an online subscription marketplace that allows college faculty to make money by uploading study materials for fellow teachers and students.
According to Grauer, the newly raised capital will be used for operations, product innovation and feature development. The company also plans to use the funds for future acquisitions. Course Hero has brought in-person tutoring business Cardinal Scholars from InstaEDU in 2012. That’s the only purchase for the company till date.
