Less than five years after raising £837,160 through its previous Crowdcube campaign, virtual school-gate community, Classlist, has returned to the equity crowdfunding platform and has already doubled its initial £250,000 funding target. The funding round has already attracted nearly 540 Crowdcube investors.
As previously reported, Classlist enables parent communities to work together on a wide range of family-related activities. It also offers a private social network for each school with messaging, events, listings, school run sharing, and more.
“Susan Burton & Clare Wright launched Classlist in 2015 when privacy concerns prevented their school from sharing parent details. We found UK Parent Associations adopting our service to communicate & organise events. School leaders welcomed Classlist: buzzing parent communities drive better pupil outcomes, increase fundraising & attract new parents. Messaging tools like WhatsApp can pose security risks, become cliquey, or turn negative. Our volunteer school ‘Ambassadors’ focus on trust, respect & inclusivity.”
Classlist also noted that its core business model is ad-funded, offering advertisers school-by-school access to a UK family market it estimates at £209 billion pa. Schools also share revenue if they bring sponsors.
” Advertising revenue alone has taken us close to breakeven (YE July 2020: Rev: £257.2k, P&L: -£18.6k). Premium subscription services launched recently, can yield up to £15k pa for a large school. We operate in 2 high growth markets: digital advertising at $350bn/growing 12% pa, and edtech $150bn/16% pa.”
Funds from the latest Crowdcube round will be used to develop premium services, as well as extend the company’s UK and global leadership. The company is now offering 8.18% at a £6 million pre-money valuation through the campaign, which is set to close at the beginning of March.
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