GoPeer, an educational technology company that pairs vetted college students with K-12 students for virtual tutoring lessons, closed a $2M seed round led by angel investor, Ed Baker, former VP of Product and Growth at Uber, and prior to that, Head of International Growth at Facebook. The new financing will power GoPeer's product-driven growth and fuel its innovative platform, prioritizing teaching, accessibility, and analytics.

At a time when families are coping with school closures, GoPeer has been able to support students overcome many of these challenges. With GoPeer, families get unlimited tutoring at $20 per hour, which is 1/3 the national average cost, and tutors keep 100% of their earnings. K-12 students use GoPeer to complement their existing curriculum assigned by teachers. College students help deliver this curriculum through GoPeer's virtual classroom in a relatable, easy-to-understand way. To date, the company has served more than 16,000 K-12 students in 150+ subjects, and over 10,000 college students are on the platform.

"I'm extremely excited to be investing in GoPeer, which is bringing low-cost, high quality online tutoring to children all over the world," said angel investor Ed Baker. "When my own kids started using GoPeer after the pandemic began, I immediately realized that Ethan and the team were solving a very important problem in a creative way that allows college students to earn money while helping K-12 students master new academic subjects."

Founding Story
GoPeer was founded in 2017 by Ethan Binder, Zura Mestiashvili, and Erik Laucks from their dorm rooms at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. The team believes that inaccessible education is fundamentally a cost problem. Traditional tutoring's high costs are a barrier to entry for students, who wind up feeling neglected by supplementary education systems. GoPeer aimed to solve this problem by recruiting elite college students as educators, tapping into a world of talent. The concept gained widespread praise from families and undergraduates, and GoPeer was born.

The Product
"If there is one thing we set out to do each and every day, it is building tools that turn our tutors into online teaching superheroes, bringing cost-effective and high-quality education to every kid in the world," said Ethan Binder, founder and CEO of GoPeer.

Students and tutors communicate through GoPeer's secure online classroom, using tools like real-time face-to-face video conferencing, photo/document sharing, and a virtual whiteboard/notepad to collaborate or edit essays.

Over the last three years, GoPeer has met with and spoken with thousands of tutors and students to carefully refine its virtual classroom. From the insights learned, the company has created the most versatile digital classroom that makes online tutoring personalized, effective, and collaborative. With GoPeer, an online tutor offers the same face-to-face personalized tutoring experience as an in-person tutor but uses GoPeer's state-of-the-art live learning platform to meet with students online.

Why Parents Love GoPeer
Parents love the high quality, convenience and cost-effective tutoring that inspires growth, learning and understanding in their children.

"Abigail takes the time to make sure my daughter understands concepts behind problems in a way that is supportive and encouraging. Now she's less stressed, more confident, and even got an A on her last exam." - Liz, Nicole's Mom

Why Students Love GoPeer
Students love working with approachable college undergraduates, who can relate to their current perspectives, strategies, and insights.

"Katie was honestly an amazing teacher. She not only sent me instructions and tips on how to solve the problems, but she helped diversify my understanding of the problem. As a 9th grader doing Algebra is a little bit frightening, but Katie made it seem very easy and approachable." - Connor, 9th Grade

"GoPeer's mission is to improve the quality and lower the cost of online education," said Binder. We are thrilled to have Ed and all of our phenomenal backers on the team. This is just the beginning of a very exciting journey. It will help us continue to provide the accessibility, affordability, and flexibility necessary to move education forward in a substantial way, especially in these very trying times."

Other investors in this round include:

Javier Olivan, Vice President of Growth at Facebook
Deborah Quazzo, Managing Partner at GSV Ventures
Daniel Graf, CEO of Mindstrong, and previously Head of Product at Uber, Vice President of Consumer Product at Twitter and Senior Director at Google Maps
Josh Hannah, CEO and Co-Founder of Flutter and General Partner at Matrix Partners
Aaron Schildkrout, Previously Head of Driver Product at Uber and Investor at Addition
Chris Protasewich, Chief of Staff at Freshly
Tom Medrek, Will Weddleton, George Gong, investors at Launchpad Venture Group
About GoPeer
GoPeer is an educational technology company that pairs vetted college students with K-12 students for virtual tutoring lessons. Families get unlimited tutoring at a $20/hour rate. Plus, tutors keep 100% of their earnings. GoPeer's virtual classroom is designed to enhance a student's online learning experience with a variety of tools that make learning online feel like an in-person lesson. The company is based in Boston, Massachusetts. For more info, visit: https://gopeer.org