INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Snapask, an on-demand tutoring app, announced today that it has raised $35 million in Series B funding
Earmarked for the startup expansion in Southeast Asia, the round was led by Asia Partners and Intervest.
Launched in Hong Kong five years
ago, Snapask has now raised a total of $50 million and operates in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and South Korea
Its other investors have included Kejora Ventures, Ondine Capital and SOSV Chinaccelerator (Snapask participated in its accelerator
program).
Founder and CEO Timothy Yu said Snapask will expand into Vietnam and focus on markets in Southeast Asia where there is a high
demand for tutoring and other private education services
It will also open a regional headquarter in Singapore and develop video content and analytics products for its platform.
The company now has
a total of 3 million students, with 1.3 million who registered over the past twelve months (including a recent surge that Yu attributes to
students studying at home after COVID-19 related school cancellations)
Over the past year, 100,000 tutors have applied, taking Snapask current total to 350,000 applicants.
Yu says that over 2 million questions
are asked by students each month on the platform, with each subscriber typically asking about 60 questions a month, during tutoring sessions
that last between 15 to 20 minutes
The majority, or about two-thirds, of the questions are about math and science-related topics.
One thing all of Snapask markets have in
common are highly-competitive public exams to enter top universities, says Yu
The exams have both a positive and negative effect on education, he adds.
&Students have a very clear objective about what topics they need
to study, so that is driving a very lucrative market in the tutoring industry
But I think what Snapask focuses on is that exams are important, but you should do it the right way
We&re about self-directed learning
It not necessary to go to three-hour classes every day after school
If you need specific help on a question, you can ask for it immediately.&
While at university, Yu worked as a math tutor, and sometimes
spent a total of two hours commuting to sessions that lasted the same amount of time
In markets like Malaysia or Indonesia, many educators chose to work in major cities, leaving students in rural areas with less options
The goal of Snapask is to help solve those issues and connect tutors with more students.
Yu says the average time for students to connect
with a tutor after asking a question is about 15 to 20 minutes, which it is able to do because of machine learning-based technology that
matches them based on educational styles, subject and availability
Snapask matching algorithms are also based on how students engage with tutors (for example, if they respond better to concise or longer,
Students can also pick up to 15 to 20 tutors for their favorites list, who are prioritized when matching.
Yu says Snapask screens tutors by
looking at their university transcripts and public exam results
Then they go through a probation period on the platform to assess how they interact with students
The platform also tracks how many messages are sent during a tutoring session and response times to make sure that tutors are explaining
students& questions instead of just giving them the answers.
Tutors can talk to up to 10 students at a time through Snapask platform
Yu says Snapask tutors in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and South Korea who spend about two hours per day answering questions usually make
about $1,200 a month, while those who work about four to five hours a day can make about $4,000 to $5,000 a month
The company uses different pricing models in Southeast Asian markets, and Yu says tutors there can make about 50% to 60% more than they
would at traditional tutoring jobs.
Other study apps focused on students some of the same markets as Snapask include ManyTutors and
Mathpresso, whose products combine tutoring services with tools that let students upload math questions, which are then scanned with optical
character recognition to provide instant answers
Yu says Snapask is focusing on one-on-one tutoring because it wants to differentiate by creating a &holistic experience.&
&A lot of students
come to Snapask after using OCR tools, which we know that user surveys, but they can&t get to certain steps
They still need someone to help them understand what is happening,& he says
&So we try not to use technology for every component in teaching, but to make it more efficient and scalable, and we&re creating a holistic
experience to differentiate us.&
