An online learning app that tailors to each student's needs and motivates them to be educated, and most importantly, smart. It may sound too good to be true, but this is exactly what ed-tech start-up, ForClassmates promises to do with its revolutionary app. The secret to the start-up’s success is its forward-thinking methodology to explain school content that was created by students themselves. They've already tried it on over 35,000 students and are on their way to reaching a $38 million investment, for which they're offering investors a chance to contribute to an important social cause, while also reaping the benefits of a highly lucrative venture project.
The young team, based in the heart of Europe, has been testing their method in Czech and Slovak schools for several years. "More than 35,000 students, which is about 15% of our current market, have already been through our “humanly by students” method. And now we are taking it abroad," proudly describes twenty-two-year-old CEO Lukáš Král, who is in charge of managing the entire company.
That's why the ForClassmates project is raising an investment of $38 million, with a target valuation of $600 million over 7 years. "We want our method to help at least 10 million active users annually, not only in Europe, but also in North and South America," adds twenty-seven-year-old Marek Liška, who is in charge of the vision of the entire project.
They currently have their third investment round open, and in addition to the value of the investment, they promise to contribute to a positive society-wide impact in the field of education for our children.
Humanly by Students
The young entrepreneurs from the Czech Republic invented their own method called "humanly by students" to solve their own problems with understanding mathematics. "When I was in high school, my classmates and I had problems with math, and I wanted to change that," says Marek Liška, the creator of the million-dollar idea.
The method consists of having peers explain the material to the reader in a more understandable way. "Normally, educational texts are written by teachers and often professors who are several generations older and less able to understand how a student feels when they don't understand a basic thing, such as fractions, which are universally hated" says CEO Lukáš Král, who until recently was one of the project's target group of customers himself.
1.3 Billion Students Were out of School During Covid
While everyone would like to forget about the COVID pandemic, it has brought us many interesting ideas to make people's lives easier or safer. The ForClassmates project is proof of this. "If it weren't for the pandemic, it would be very difficult to tell teachers that it is possible to learn "only" from an online learning app and that the teacher no longer needs to be the main source of information," comments Radek Lekeš, who has spoken to more than 1,000 secondary school teachers by phone.
American Accelerator Newchip
In September, the ForClassmates project became part of the accelerator program of the American accelerator Newchip. The program will focus primarily on improving the project's materials, knowledge and skills to a level that makes the project "sexy" to investors, not only because of the great idea, but also because of the team's enhanced capabilities and skills.
"I am proud that we are among the top 10% of projects selected for the Newchip accelerator program. We will get mentoring and valuable feedback from the best executives of American companies," adds CEO Lukáš Král excitedly.
They have already accomplished a lot, but they have even more plans. But their vision is very clear, and that is to get investment and start with a collective change in education. So follow their journey on their website www.forclassmates.io.
ForClassmates s.r.o.
Evropská 516/10
160 00 Prague
Czech Republic
web: www.forclassmates.io
Contact person:
Marek Liška
e-mail: liska@forclassmates.io
WhatsApp: +420 775 036 675
About the Company (boilerplate)
ForClassmates is an ed-tech startup that focuses an online learning system that is tailor-made for each user based on their strengths and weaknesses. It was born out of a student project that explored a custom method to explain math in a simpler way that most students can understand. Within 5 years, the company has published 47 textbooks and workbooks of mathematics and chemistry for secondary schools in Czech and Slovak languages and developed a basic MVP version of online learning based on the "humanly by students" method. In its history, it has sold more than 180,000 copies and more than 35,000 Czech and Slovak students have been taught the method. In 2019, the ForClassmates project was named European Startup of the year by Total and was awarded by their home city for popularising high school maths in a completely unique approach, making them the youngest recipients of this award.
