Daria Kroshkina’s educational startup StudyFree changed its name to Connected. The project decided to move away from the educational focus of its name and focus its efforts on working in India and Africa.
“We have wanted to take a broader approach for a long time. Connecting people with international opportunities around the world. I wanted to move away from the focus on education. And about the word Free,” Daria Kroshkina told RB.RU, adding that the old positioning did not help monetization in new markets, since it was associated with a free service.
According to The Edinorog Telegram channel, Connected has also raised an angel investment round from existing and new investors. Kroshkina did not reveal the names or the amount of the investment to RB.RU.
Edinorog also reports that Kroshkina plans to attract a new round of investments in the fourth quarter of 2023. The businessman, in conversation with RB.RU, added that “these are just plans for now,” and that the project plans to look for investors in the market US.
- StudyFree was founded in 2018 and helped students travel abroad by providing them access to scholarships and grants through an online platform.
- In 2020, the startup raised $600,000 as part of a pre-seed round. The main investor was the Dutch venture fund Acrobator VC, other investors were the accelerators Techstars NY and Berkeley Skydeck, the founder of the investment fund Outran Ventures, Chris Adelsbach, as well as the Swiss fund Seedstars.
- In December 2021, StudyFree raised another $3 million to expand into new markets and develop products. The investors were I2BF Global Ventures, TMT Investments, TechStars, PandaDoc CEO Mikita Mikado, and former Google Chief Product Officer Andrey Doronichev.
- By the end of 2021, StudyFree customers had received $10.3 million in scholarships and grants from universities in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia, and the platform had a user base of 90,000 students.
- In 2022, StudyFree faced difficulties due to the sanctions campaign: the project delayed employees’ salaries and was reportedly on the verge of bankruptcy.
Author:
Anastasia Marina
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
