The French start-up OpenClassrooms, leader in Europe and Africa, has just raised $ 60 million.
This is the story of two kids who have a good idea on the benches of the school and find themselves two decades later at the head of a company of over 100 employees, with a revenue growth of 150 % per year. The success story does not take place in the midst of Silicon Valley, but begins on the outskirts of Avignon. Peter has 11 years old when he sends an e-mail to Matthew, 13 years old, which makes online courses to learn how to develop web sites. Twenty years later, Mathieu Nebra and Pierre Dubuc raise $ 51.5 million for the project on the market anglo-saxon their business, OpenClassrooms, the leading e-education in Europe and in Africa.
The two boys have developed their website “as a hobby” at the college, high school and then engineering school, before deciding to do their job. Today, they gather up 3 million users per month and offer 1000 online courses in areas as diverse as marketing, communication, accounting or programming. The bonus ? “The 40-course degree, accredited, and a hundred in a year”, promises Pierre Dubuc.
Hired or your money back
a Lot of free of charge, a little charge is : OpenClassrooms is a reproduction of one of the golden rules of digital to ensure its attractiveness and profitability. The courses are free to access, only courses degree – sometimes developed with great schools, require payment. And the start-up undertakes to reimburse the training to those who have not found employment after six months. “They have understood and anticipated what was going to happen in the sector,” points out in an interview with the Figaro, the boss of Europe of General Atlantic, who flew the last round at $ 60 million.
The premises of OpenClassrooms are located in the 10th arrondissement of Paris.
OpenClassRooms
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The two young thirty-somethings have taken a new step in addressing the companies that now provide 40 % of their turnover. Beyond mere training, they have the ambition to create “new talent” for these companies. “When a company needs 100 data scientists, it can’t find them on the market. It is a systemic problem. We recruit people who have the potential, the company hires them, and we train them in alternation.”
Always in the air of the time, the company was transformed into a “company mission” on the occasion of the last fundraiser, ahead of a few months this status which should be created by the law Covenant, promised for the beginning of the summer. The goal : to measure its social impact ; “stay aligned with our values,” translated Pierre Dubuc.
BY the NUMBERS
Date of creation 2013
Turnover : not disclosed
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Number of users : 3 million per month
Number of employees : 100 for the time being, 200 in nine months.