Home Internet Microsoft acquires TakeLessons, an online and in-person tutoring platform, to ramp up its edtech play – TechCrunch

Microsoft acquires TakeLessons, an online and in-person tutoring platform, to ramp up its edtech play – TechCrunch

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Microsoft acquires TakeLessons, an online and in-person tutoring platform, to ramp up its edtech play – TechCrunch

Microsoft said in January this year that Teams, its online collaboration platform, was being used by over 100 million students — boosted in no small part by the COVID-19 pandemic and many schools going partly or wholly remote. Now, it’s made another acquisition to continue expanding its position in the education market.

The company has acquired TakeLessons, a platform for students to connect with individual tutors in music lessons, language learning, academic subjects, professional training, or hobbies, and for tutors to book and organize the assignments they give, both online and in person.

San Diego-based TakeLessons had raised at least $20 million from various VCs and individuals, including Lightbank, Uncork Capital, Crosslink Capital, and others. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but we are trying to find out. TakeLessons posted a short note in the form of a Q&A confirming the deal on its site. The message said that it will continue operating business as usual for the time being to take its platform to a broader global audience.

It’s not clear how many active students and tutors. TakeLessons had on its platform at the time of acquisition. Still, for some context, another big player in online one-to-one tutoring, students out of Europe, raised $244 million in funding earlier this year that, valued at $1.7 billion. Others in online tutoring, like Brainly, also see valuations in the hundreds of millions.

Given the relatively modest amount raised by TakeLessons, this was likely a much lower valuation. Yet, the acquisition still gives Microsoft the infrastructure and beginnings of setting up a much more aggressive play in mass-market online education, potentially going head-to-head with these and other big platforms.

Microsoft

TakeLessons today offers instruction in various areas, including music lessons (which was where it had gotten its start) through to languages, academic subjects, test prep, computer skills, crafts, and more. It has been around since 2006. It started as a platform for people to connect with tutors local to them for in-person lessons before progressing into online classes to complement that business.

The pandemic has shifted to a much bigger wave of the latter, with online tutoring the majority of what is offered on the TakeLessons platform today. These lessons continue to be provided on a one-on-one basis, but additionally, students can participate in group lessons online via the startup’s Live platform.

The shift to online education that we’ve seen take hold worldwide is likely why Microsoft sees an ample opportunity here. On the heels of many schools worldwide scrambling for better online learning platforms to manage remote learning during lockdowns and quarantines, educators, families, and students have been using (and paying for) various tools. Within that, Microsoft has been pushing hard to make Teams a leader in that area.

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