Navitas co-founder’s son Andrew Larsen Springboards into online learning

As unemployment rises amid the coronavirus pandemic, Telstra Ventures is betting on an online education start-up.

Springboard’s low-cost model and mentoring program teams students up with industry professionals from leading tech companies like Airbnb, LinkedIn and Google.

Andrew Larsen, son of Peter Larsen the co-founder of global education provider Navitas, has teamed up with Telstra’s venture capital arm and other investors to pour $31m into online course start-up, Springboard.

The company — which boasts that its graduates have secured jobs with 50 per cent of Fortune 100 companies including Apple, Google and Facebook — completed a series B funding round as it experiences a surge in demand from people looking to upskill or re-skill amid rising unemployment as the COVID-19 pandemic shuts down large sections of economies worldwide.

Telstra Ventures principal Albert Bielinko introduced Mr Larsen to Springboard, which includes a job guarantee for its graduates in India and the US. Mr Bielinko said Springboard was looking to provide the same guarantee for its Australian graduates and the series B funding would fast-track the company’s plans.

“Andrew and his father Peter run a high-net worth investment vehicle called Larsen Ventures and we have co-invested with them in the past and so I introduced them to the company, they have a wealth of experience in education,” he said.

What made Springboard unique, Mr Bielinko said, was its low-cost model and mentoring program, which teams students up with industry professionals from leading tech companies like Airbnb, LinkedIn and Google.

He said this differentiated the company from the swath of open online courses which have been established in the past decade.

“Massive open online courses have been really popular but they have a single-digit completion rate — about 3 per cent — so lots of great online content but very hard to complete. As a learner, if you are doing a transition of a career it’s very hard to motivate yourself to do that.

“So we welcome the fact the Springboard marries students who want to upskill themselves with a mentor. For example if you are studying data science you might get paired with a data scientist at Airbnb and that person guides you through all your learning, answers your questions and they do weekly calls with you.

“One student, who was a biologist, was earning $US40,000 ($56,000) a year and heard about a course in February, she did the course, and by September — in less than a year — she got a job as a data scientist paying $US110,000 per annum. The course cost about $US6000 and dramatically increased her income. She had to do a lot of hard work to get there but it really does offer an opportunity.”

While Springboard graduates gain a certificate, not a degree, it is also partnering with universities, which have had to rapidly dive deeper into online learning to combat travel bans and other coronavirus-enforced restrictions.

“Springboard just went live last week with a university-partnered white-labelled model with the University of New Hampshire. It’s a really good way for the university to acquire more students who maybe otherwise wouldn’t have signed up for a university course and plug the revenue hole.”

Telstra Ventures declined to disclose how much of the $31m it invested in Springboard but said it was enough to secure a board seat.

It has been a long-term investor in tech companies, with stakes in cloud-based communications provider Whispir; call centre software company Panviva, which has deployed its technology across three US states to assist in COVID-19 tracing efforts; and data intelligence provider Near.