70% of its market is in the United States, but the Aprende Institute wants to consolidate its presence in the neighboring country through new educational content and strategic alliances with companies from different industries.
To achieve this, he has already taken the first step. The online learning startup closed a Series A-II investment round for 22 million dollars, which was led by the Brazilian fund Valor Capital Group.
“Aprende Institute caught our attention because it is a social business that, through technology, helps a large number of people find their true vocation and seek better opportunities,” says Antoine Colaço, managing partner of the fund.
The round included the participation of Reach Capital and strategic and financial investors such as ECMC Group, Angel Ventures, Capria, Endeavor Catalyst, Artisan Venture Capital, Matterscale, Salkantay Ventures, 500 Startups, The Yard Ventures, Claure Group and Univision.
“We invest in companies that offer high-quality educational experiences and help students reach their full potential and improve their lives. Aprende Institute can fulfill this mission and help millions of small business owners in the United States and Latin America with courses. high quality and a community of peers, “added Esteban Sosnik, partner at Reach Capital.
The bet with Univision, says MartÃn Claure, CEO of Aprende Institute, is to create a learning channel that allows them to get closer to more users. “It is a B2C (business to consumer) strategy with which we seek to improve the learning experience and consolidate ourselves through content that is 100% in Spanish.”
With this capital, the startup also wants to expand its services for companies, create personalized learning options so that they can train and empower their employees. At the moment it has an alliance with firms such as Stanley Tools, WeWork, Dupreé, Lear, BBVA, Davivienda, Santander and Banco Azteca.
And the third axis of action is in its Business and Entrepreneurship School. The idea is to expand its offer of graduates, focused on the professionalization of trades and vocational skills and include marketing, sales, negotiation and finance content.
Some of the contents of the Aprende Institute are recorded, 2,000 online classes are taught per month and the teachers are available on WhatsApp. Since 2019, the platform has served more than 70,000 users and the expectation for 2022 alone is to reach 60,000.
According to their records, 95% of students find their learning experience enriching, six out of ten graduates claim to have increased their income in the short term and nine out of ten have improved their quality of life.
The financing obtained brings the total raised by the company to 27 million dollars. Regarding its annual turnover, Claure expects that next year it will multiply by six, since in addition to the United States, 20% of its market is in Mexico and 10% in Colombia.
With the increase in content, Claure believes that it will also gain ground in some of the Latin American countries, mainly in Colombia, where it already has a stake. If everything goes as planned, in 18 months Aprende Institute would be looking for a Series B investment round to continue with its expansion plan.
