Upgrade Academy, an online training platform for admission to top universities in the world, intends to attract 350,000 EUR funding, of which 100,000 EUR on Seedblink. 2.6% of the company’s shares will be put up for sale on SeedBlink, today, September 15th.
The investment round is supported by private investors experienced in technology through the financing of 250,000 EUR: Cofounder Zone (Poland), Grouport (Czech Republic), Growceanu (RO), Angel Investors (United States), among whom are the co-founders of WHOOP (US Unicorn company). The funding obtained will be directed to the expansion into other European markets and to product development. Upgrade Academy aims to expand the international coaching service for admission in countries such as Spain, the UK, Poland and Russia.
The company was launched in 2017 by Constantin Bosînceanu, with over 10 years of experience in technology and finance, gained both on the Romanian market as well as in the United States. Camelia Diaconu and Alex Bulintis, with notable experience in technology, content creation and entrepreneurship, joined as co-founders. The three created Upgrade Academy with the intention of developing the most effective online platform for preparation for admission to top universities, as well as for education for the jobs of the future. Both the founding members and the rest of the team have graduated from top faculties, such as Harvard, Cambridge, Minerva or Oxford.
“Our platform meets an obvious need of the market, namely the access to digital educational content and personalized coaching, provided by top faculty graduates. We already have significant revenues from international customers in Germany, France, Spain, the UK, Greece, Vietnam and our short-term strategic goal is to expand into new European markets. We are pleased that this first round of investments is secured by a financing amounting to 250,000 EUR from private external investors, as well as from Romania“, says Constantin Bosînceanu, Founder & CEO of Upgrade Academy.
The Upgrade Academy platform has an admission rate of 84% into the top 100 universities in the world and a Net Promoter Score of 64, from customers.
For 2021, the management estimates a turnover of 1 million EUR, three times higher compared to 2020, in the context of the higher interest in the field of EduTech, especially in Western European countries.
“Constantin has made a very good impression on us since our first conversation in March, by his energy and ambition, but also by the noble subject he addresses. Unfortunately, the agility of the education system is not comparable to that of high school students, which creates room for ambitious startups to meet these needs. The fact that Upgrade Academy has surrounded itself with a number of valuable international advisors after graduating from Supercharger Ventures Accelerator puts them in a privileged position to scale their solution. Upgrade Academy is working hard to become a major player and we are excited to offer this EdTech opportunity to our investors”, said Andrei Dudoiu, Managing Partner and President of BoD SeedBlink.
The market for education services is estimated at 3.3 million EUR in Romania and 503 million EUR in Europe. Currently, Upgrade Academy is the market leader in Romania, with a market share of 10%.