Brainly Valuation, Funding & Investors
Brainly is valued at $180M as of July 2019.
Last Brainly valuation
$180M
Series C · Jul 2019
Last Brainly funding round
$80M
Series D · Dec 2020
Cumulative funding Brainly raised
$148M
across 5 funding rounds
Key investors in Brainly
Runa Capital
General Catalyst
Prosus
Manta Ray Ventures
Point Nine
Learn Capital
About Brainly
Brainly is a crowdsourced learning platform where students ask homework questions and receive answers from peers, parents, and experts across 35 countries. Kraków-founded in 2009, it operates websites and apps for middle and high school subjects, fostering collaborative study communities.
Founded
2009
HQ
KrakowWebsite
Status
Privately held
Customer focus
B2C
Revenue model
Advertising
Valuation
$180M (Jul 2019)
Brainly Valuation
Brainly is currently valued at $180M, based on its Series C in July 2019.
The $30M round was led by Prosus, with participation from Manta Ray Ventures and Runa Capital.
Brainly valuation by funding round
| Date | Stage | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 2019 | Series C | $180M |
Brainly Funding History
Brainly has raised a total of $148M across 5 funding rounds.
Brainly's first fundraising round was a $9M Series A in October 2014. The most recent completed round was a $80M Series D in December 2020.
Brainly funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2020 | Series D | Learn Capital (lead); General Catalyst; Manta Ray Ventures; Runa Capital; Prosus Ventures | $80M | - | Brainly is a Polish educational technology company based in Krakow that operates a peer-to-peer learning platform for students, parents, and teachers to crowdsource homework help and collaborative learning. The platform had grown to 350 million monthly active users by December 2020 across more than 35 countries, having experienced dramatic growth particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic with a 75% increase in the international user base since April 2020. In its Series D funding round closed on December 17, 2020, Brainly raised $80 million led by Learn Capital with participation from existing investors Prosus Ventures, Runa Capital, MantaRay, and General Catalyst Partners, bringing total capital raised to approximately $150 million. The company planned to deploy funds toward continued product development including tutoring services (which had already logged 150,000 pilot sessions), video features, and AI capabilities, as well as geographic expansion into key emerging markets such as Brazil and Indonesia. By 2022, the company had reached $10.9 million in annual revenue and employed over 400 people. |
| Jul 2019 | Series C | Prosus (lead); Manta Ray Ventures; Runa Capital | $30M | $180M | Brainly, a Poland-based edtech company founded in 2009 (formerly Zadane), operates a peer-to-peer online learning platform where students, parents, and teachers collaborate to solve homework and academic problems using a 'crowdlearning' model that integrates online education, social media, and machine learning. By July 2019, it had grown to 150 million unique monthly users globally, up from 100 million in 2018, with a focus on monetization in the US market where it had around 30 million users. On July 25, 2019, Brainly closed a $30 million Series C funding round led by Naspers (predecessor to Prosus Ventures), with participation from Runa Capital and Manta Ray Ventures. This brought total funding to $68.5 million at the time. The funds were allocated to enhance user experience, improve content quality, and accelerate expansion in the US, Brainly's primary monetized market. The round built on prior investments, including a $29 million Series B in 2016-2017 led by Naspers and Kulczyk Investments, with other backers like General Catalyst Partners, Point Nine Capital, Runa Capital, and Learn Capital. Brainly positioned itself to disrupt the global $2.6 billion education market through organic growth in over 35 countries. Following the Series C, Brainly raised an $80 million Series D in December 2020 led by Learn Capital, with Prosus Ventures, Runa Capital, Manta Ray Ventures, and General Catalyst participating, doubling total funding to about $150 million and growing users to 350 million monthly. |
| Oct 2017 | Series B | General Catalyst; Manta Ray Ventures; Runa Capital; Point Nine; Prosus | $14M | - | Brainly is a Polish edtech company developing a peer-to-peer learning platform where students ask and answer questions across subjects like math, science, history, and English. The platform operates in 35 countries, supports 12 languages, and had reached 100 million monthly active users by October 2017, with users answering over 100,000 questions daily. Growth was boosted by the acquisition of US-based OpenStudy the prior year, and the US accounted for about 8 million users. On October 25, 2017, Brainly raised $14 million in a Series B funding round led by Kulczyk Investments, with participation from Naspers (Prosus), General Catalyst, Point Nine Capital, and Runa Capital. This brought total funding to $38.5 million. Note that Manta Ray Ventures is not mentioned as a participant in this specific round's sources. Proceeds were allocated to expanding global presence, particularly in the US, growing the product team, and developing a monetization strategy, including recent implementation of paid features. |
| May 2016 | Series B | Prosus (lead) | $15M | - | Brainly, a Poland-based peer-to-peer learning platform founded in 2009, raised $15 million in a Series B funding round in 2016 led by Naspers (now Prosus), followed by a $14 million Series B-1 in 2017 led by Kulczyk Investments. Naspers, a South African media group, made Brainly its first education technology investment, with participation from previous investors General Catalyst Partners, Learn Capital, and Point Nine Capital, bringing total funding to $27 million at that point. The platform, operating in Kraków, had over 60 million users across 35 countries and focused on growth over monetization, with plans for future revenue from tutoring and university enrollment services. By 2019, Brainly reached 150 million monthly active users and began monetizing in the U.S. market ahead of a $30 million Series C led by Naspers. |
| Oct 2014 | Series A | General Catalyst (lead); Learn Capital; Runa Capital; Point Nine | $9M | - | Brainly, a Polish social learning network where students help each other with schoolwork through a Q&A platform, raised a $9 million Series A round on October 15, 2014, led by General Catalyst Partners, with participation from previous and new investors including Point Nine Capital and Runa Capital. At the time, Brainly had 7 million monthly users across 17 localized sites and had answered 2 million questions in total. The company planned to use the funds to expand in the U.S., where it already had 500,000 monthly users, by opening a New York office and recruiting a U.S. executive team. Brainly had previously raised a $500,000 seed round in 2012. The startup was not yet monetized and focused on reaching scale. |
Who has invested in Brainly?
7 investors have backed Brainly across its funding rounds, including Runa Capital, General Catalyst, Prosus, Manta Ray Ventures, Point Nine and Learn Capital.
Lead investors include Learn Capital, Prosus and General Catalyst.
Brainly Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Luxembourg | 4 | Participant | Oct 2014 | |
 San Francisco, CA | 3 | Lead | Oct 2014 | |
 London | 3 | Participant | Oct 2017 | |
 Amsterdam | 3 | Lead | May 2016 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 2 | Lead | Oct 2014 | |
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Benchmark 350K+ Funding Rounds and Disclosed VC Valuation Multiples
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Start Free TrialAcquisitions by Brainly
Brainly has acquired 2 companies to date.
Last acquisition by Brainly was on January 25th 2018. Brainly acquired Bask for undisclosed valuation.
Latest Acquisitions by Brainly
| Description | Bask is a video learning platform that integrates short teacher-produced videos into learning management systems. Founded in April 2017 and headquartered in San Francisco, the platform supports educators in creating and embedding content seamlessly across systems like Canvas and Google Classroom. It enables quick production of educational videos tailored for classroom use and professional development. | OpenStudy is a collaborative online platform that connects students globally to ask questions, share answers, and form study groups across subjects like mathematics, science, and history. Acquired by Brainly in 2017, the platform integrates with Brainly's ecosystem serving users in over 35 countries through web and mobile apps. Features include real-time chat, content moderation by community experts, and gamification elements such as points and badges to encourage participation. Originally launched in 2010 and based in New York, OpenStudy expanded partnerships with educational institutions including Stanford University and the University of Michigan before the acquisition. |
| HQ Country | | |
| HQ City | New York City, NY | Atlanta, GA |
| Deal Date | 25 Jan 2018 | 14 Jun 2016 |
| Valuation | undisclosed | undisclosed |
| EV/Revenue | ||
| EV/EBITDA | ||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Brainly acquisitions and their M&A valuation multiples. Start Free Trial | ||
Brainly Competitors
Brainly competitors include listed companies like Flier Inc, Duolingo, I-Scream Media and MegaStudyEdu, and private ones like Yoto and Bluon.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | Private | - | - | $182M | - | |
| Los Angeles, CA | Private | $11M | - | $108M | 9.8x | |
 Japan | Publicly listed | $7M | $294K | $8M | 1.3x | |
| United States | Publicly listed | $1B | $152M | $6.9B | 4.9x | |
 South Korea | Publicly listed | $143M | $48M | $171M | 0.7x | |
| South Korea | Publicly listed | $644M | $139M | $263M | 0.4x |
Brainly Public Comps
Brainly is still privately-owned, but its public comps include I-Scream Media, Goodheart-Willcox, Perfect Corp., Weight Watchers, CyberLink, Dozn, UNITED, Security First International, Be Friends Holding and Matrimony.com.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $143M | $48M | 0.6x | 0.7x | 1.6x | - | |||
| $24M | - | 6.9x | - | - | - | |||
| $69M | $636K | 0.5x | 0.5x | 56.9x | 11.9x | |||
| $786M | ($198M) | 0.6x | 0.7x | (2.4x) | 4.0x | |||
| $77M | $11M | 0.7x | 0.7x | 5.1x | 5.6x | |||
| $44M | $11M | 0.1x | - | 0.5x | - | |||
| $57M | ($7M) | 0.7x | 0.7x | (6.2x) | - | |||
| - | - | - | - | - | - | |||
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Common questions about Brainly
| When was Brainly founded? | Brainly was founded in 2009. |
| Where is Brainly headquartered? | Brainly is headquartered in Krakow, Poland. |
| Is Brainly publicly listed? | No, Brainly is a private, VC-backed company. |
| What is Brainly's valuation? | Brainly was last valued at $180M in its Series C in July 2019. |
| How much funding has Brainly raised? | Brainly has raised $148M across 5 funding rounds. |
| What was Brainly's last funding round? | Brainly's last funding round was a $80M Series D in December 2020, led by Learn Capital. |
| Who are Brainly's investors? | Brainly's investors include Runa Capital, General Catalyst, Manta Ray Ventures, Prosus, Learn Capital, Point Nine and Prosus Ventures. |
| Which companies are comparable to Brainly? | Companies comparable to Brainly include Yoto, Bluon, Flier Inc, Duolingo, I-Scream Media and MegaStudyEdu. |
| How many companies has Brainly acquired? | Brainly has acquired 2 companies, including Bask and OpenStudy. |
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