The London-headquartered start-up claims that teachers on its platform have delivered more than 2m hours of education in the past year.
Zen Educate, an edtech platform that connects schools with available teachers, has announced today (21 May) a raise of $37m in a Series B funding round.
Founded in 2017 by Slava Kremerman and Oren Cohen, Zen Educate pitches itself as an online marketplace for teacher recruitment. It aims to solve the problem of finding substitute teachers without needing to go through expensive recruitment agencies and avoiding bad matches.
CEO Kremerman was previously an executive at Nutmeg, while Cohen ran the UK office of Optimizely.
The start-up, which has previously featured on prestigious lists such as FT 1000 and Deloitte Fast 50, is headquartered in London and has offices across the UK and US. It has around 300 employees and the fresh investment – one of the largest in European edtech this year – will help it expand in its markets.
Financing was led by Round2 Capital, with support from existing investors Adjuvo, Brighteye Ventures, FJ Labs and Ascension Ventures. Angel investor and Octopus founder and CEO Simon Rogerson also backed the latest funding round.
Zen Educate claims that teachers on its platform have delivered more than 2m hours of education in the past year.
“We’ve been on a mission to solve schools’ workforce challenges,” said Kremerman. “This investment brings us closer to our goal of helping the education system save over $100m annually through our fairer, more efficient recruitment model. As we enter the next phase of our journey, we aim to reach out to more educational institutions across the UK and US.”
In February last year, Zen Educate acquired Opus Education. More recently, it acquired Aquinas Education – which was co-owned by television presenter and former footballer Jermaine Jenas. He will now join Zen Educate as a brand ambassador.
“Zen Educate has been successful in solving a significant challenge faced by educational facilities on a daily basis,” said Christian Czernich, co-founder and CEO of Round2 Capital. “The team’s deep understanding of the edtech landscape is evident, and their remarkable growth, nearly fivefold over the last 24 months, is a testament to their effectiveness.”
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