[Germany] A few people have been saying for a while that online education remains a fertile ground and the latest evidence to confirm this comes from Germany. Sofatutor, the video platform for short courses, has closed a Series A financing round from Hamburg-based investor J.C.M.B. and a Berlin-based public fund, IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft. Terms were undisclosed but we understand from sources that the amount is in the €700-900,000 Euro range. The company plans to use the fund for growing content and marketing.
Founded in 2008 in Berlin and launched in 2009 at Plugg the site has short video clips covering a variety of courses at various subjects and at different levels. For instance, it now has over 2,000 video clips covering high school and basic college maths.
The tutorials are produced by (ex) teachers, tutors and students who enjoy a revenue share when people sign up to courses. Experts at Sofatutur check the quality of videos prior to upload.
Sofatutor has attracted subscribers because the course prices are much cheaper than a real, offline course, of course. The average student in Germany can pay as much as 150 euros a month for private tutoring making this a 2 billion Euro market.
Sofatutor disrupts that market with an offering which costs €8-14 per month. In the US there are comparable sites like competitors like Tutor.com or TutorVista but Sofatutor has yet to expand out of Germany.