Codementor, an open marketplace for code instructors, is ramping up its services with the launch of live group classes. The startup, a Y Combinator alum, also announced that it has doubled its seed funding to $1.2 million. Its new investors include Techstars Ventures, 500 Startups, and Foundry Group syndicate FG Angel.
Online education platforms like Coursera, Code School, and Treehouse already have coding classes, but Codementor wants to compete by offering live sessions and exercises instead of pre-recorded videos so students get instant feedback.
With prices starting at $99 for an eight-hour package, Codementor Live Classes is a more affordable alternative to its mentoring sessions, which have rates set by each instructor (the current average for one-on-one tutoring is about $60 per hour).
“Classes are one of the most cost-effective means for anyone to learn from a live mentor anywhere. It’s a lot cheaper than the traditional one-on-one product. That’s the equivalent of hiring a private tutor, which is a great way to learn, but not something everyone can afford,” says Codementor founder and chief executive officer Weiting Liu.
The courses are powered by Koding, a community for developers and range in level from a Ruby On Rails introduction for coding newbies to a class on Javascript ES6, which is targeted to experienced developers. Most classes are taught by instructors in the U.S., but Codementor plans to launch courses for people in European timezones, too.
Many of Codementor’s users are individual developers who want to learn new skills or need troubleshooting on projects, but the platform is also used by Fortune 500 companies for corporate training and startups in Y Combinator and Techstars’ accelerator programs. Codementor recently began collaborating with Andela to host coding classes in African countries.
Founded in 2013, Codementor now has 3,000 pre-vetted experts on its platform, who have worked with more than 60,000 developers. Liu says the company’s annualized gross revenue is now seven figures.