Skolkovo Digital, a Skolkovo Foundation investment arm, has invested $6m in Maximum Education, a Russian company that helps high school kids prepare for important exams both offline and online, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported. Skolkovo Digital is run by Skolkovo Ventures and iTech Capital and using some funds from the Russian Venture Capital (RVC).
Set up in 2013, Maximum Education has been focused on ways of enhancing schoolchildren’s education. In addition to the unified state exam each school kid has to take before he leaves high school, the company trains children in the English language and computer skills. An unnamed spokesperson for Maximum Education said the company had around $8m in revenue last year and “posted profit” (unspecified though).
In 2016, Russia’s Higher School of Economics estimated the domestic market for additional education for schoolchildren at just over $2bln. Mikhail Myagkov, the founder and CEO of Maximum Education, expects the Russian market to reach $2.3bln by 2021. He estimates the online segment at a modest “within 10%”; however, with the federal government stepping up investment in large-scale education-related projects across the country, the segment may grow to 20-25% over the next three-to-five years.
This story initially appeared in Marchmont Innovation News, Russia’s daily business news website.