We are thrilled to announce our €1.5m seed investment in Growpro, a platform for educational experiences abroad.
We strongly believe that international experiences are becoming increasingly important for both the personal and professional development of youngsters. Being fluent in English has become a necessary but not sufficient condition for career success. Therefore, having the courage to step out of your comfort zone, live abroad and dive into a different culture have become true differentiators. Here is where Growpro comes in, facilitating the flow of these youngsters across countries and continents, while assisting them with pre and post-traveling tasks and accompanying them throughout their time at the final destination. At Kfund, the “reason why” behind a company is always a main driver behind our investment decisions.
Industry dynamics in educational travel are dominated by a lack of automation and extremely high fragmentation (i.e. many small travel agencies operating in the market). Cleverly, Growpro has taken advantage of both technology and the bundling of experiences, approaches that perfectly fit our fund´s thesis, to gain leadership and become a relevant player in this sector. The outcome of the previous is a bundled experience that includes various elements such as courses at 5 different destinations, visa-management services, insurance, bank account, sim card…which allow students to go and study abroad with greater ease and comfort. But the opportunity is even bigger than it seems. Since students stay for medium/long-term periods at the final destination (i.e. 6 months or more), the number of services that could be added to the package is infinite, starting with accommodation facilities. The objective is to be able to provide students with a full experience package, and with only two clicks they have already bought the experience that will change their lives forever. There is no doubt that large markets, where there's room for digitization and innovation, accompanied by ambitious projects, are of great interest to Kfund.
Growpro stands as a multi-market of origin and multi-final destination player, taking more than 500 students each month from Europe and LATAM to Australia, Canada, Ireland, Malta, and New Zealand.
But their future vision is even more ambitious, wanting to become the educational travel company that interconnects students of all different regions through their packetized educational experiences abroad, with the goal of expanding in both the number of countries of origin and final destination to offer. To achieve this, the company has also community creation at the final destination as one of the pillars of its value proposition. After deeply understanding students' challenges and objectives when studying abroad, Growpro became obsessed with creating these meaningful relations through events, gatherings, parties…and this has turned into one of their true differentiators. More than ever, at Kfund we prioritize founders and companies that have internationalization and networking at the core of their businesses.
As you might expect, the travel industry, the one Growpro operates in, was one of the most negatively impacted ones by Covid-19. However, the closure of the frontiers and the lockdown did not divert the company from pursuing its goal: changing students' lives through international experiences. Far from stopping the machinery, the pandemic made the fully-bootstrapped company more resilient, doubling their GMV in 2022 with respect to 2021. Indeed, the company is currently profitable, but the ambition behind the team to speed growth was the driver for raising an investment round. These are the type of companies we look for at Kfund, those that are brave, tough, and adaptable to constantly changing circumstances. And behind this resiliency are the people, the team that has made all of this possible.
As an investor, finding a fit with the founding team is a “must'' for a long and lasting healthy relationship, and for sure, an important ingredient for the success of the company. With Growpro, this has not only been easy, but fun. It is not difficult when you come across energetic and passionate founders like Goiko Llobet, who is the personification of the company's purpose, changing people’s lives through meaningful and enriching international experiences. Along with Goiko come Óscar, Laura, Vito, Paco, Josean, and many more, who have made the investment process a remarkable one, demonstrating that teamwork comes above all. Everyone indeed knows that with a Valencian paella things work better, but it has been the engagement of the Growpro team throughout the process that has made Kfund build even more conviction about this opportunity. At Kfund we are proud to say that our new portfolio company is backed by a motivated, strong, united team, and we could not be more excited to start this journey together.
We can't wait to support Growpro in cracking the educational travel industry! For more information reach out Marc (marc@kfund.vc), Pablo (pablo@kfund.vc) or Silvia (silvia.sancho@kfund.vc).
We are thrilled to announce our €1.5m seed investment in Growpro, a platform for educational experiences abroad.
We strongly believe that international experiences are becoming increasingly important for both the personal and professional development of youngsters. Being fluent in English has become a necessary but not sufficient condition for career success. Therefore, having the courage to step out of your comfort zone, live abroad and dive into a different culture have become true differentiators. Here is where Growpro comes in, facilitating the flow of these youngsters across countries and continents, while assisting them with pre and post-traveling tasks and accompanying them throughout their time at the final destination. At Kfund, the “reason why” behind a company is always a main driver behind our investment decisions.
Industry dynamics in educational travel are dominated by a lack of automation and extremely high fragmentation (i.e. many small travel agencies operating in the market). Cleverly, Growpro has taken advantage of both technology and the bundling of experiences, approaches that perfectly fit our fund´s thesis, to gain leadership and become a relevant player in this sector. The outcome of the previous is a bundled experience that includes various elements such as courses at 5 different destinations, visa-management services, insurance, bank account, sim card…which allow students to go and study abroad with greater ease and comfort. But the opportunity is even bigger than it seems. Since students stay for medium/long-term periods at the final destination (i.e. 6 months or more), the number of services that could be added to the package is infinite, starting with accommodation facilities. The objective is to be able to provide students with a full experience package, and with only two clicks they have already bought the experience that will change their lives forever. There is no doubt that large markets, where there's room for digitization and innovation, accompanied by ambitious projects, are of great interest to Kfund.
Growpro stands as a multi-market of origin and multi-final destination player, taking more than 500 students each month from Europe and LATAM to Australia, Canada, Ireland, Malta, and New Zealand.
But their future vision is even more ambitious, wanting to become the educational travel company that interconnects students of all different regions through their packetized educational experiences abroad, with the goal of expanding in both the number of countries of origin and final destination to offer. To achieve this, the company has also community creation at the final destination as one of the pillars of its value proposition. After deeply understanding students' challenges and objectives when studying abroad, Growpro became obsessed with creating these meaningful relations through events, gatherings, parties…and this has turned into one of their true differentiators. More than ever, at Kfund we prioritize founders and companies that have internationalization and networking at the core of their businesses.
As you might expect, the travel industry, the one Growpro operates in, was one of the most negatively impacted ones by Covid-19. However, the closure of the frontiers and the lockdown did not divert the company from pursuing its goal: changing students' lives through international experiences. Far from stopping the machinery, the pandemic made the fully-bootstrapped company more resilient, doubling their GMV in 2022 with respect to 2021. Indeed, the company is currently profitable, but the ambition behind the team to speed growth was the driver for raising an investment round. These are the type of companies we look for at Kfund, those that are brave, tough, and adaptable to constantly changing circumstances. And behind this resiliency are the people, the team that has made all of this possible.
As an investor, finding a fit with the founding team is a “must'' for a long and lasting healthy relationship, and for sure, an important ingredient for the success of the company. With Growpro, this has not only been easy, but fun. It is not difficult when you come across energetic and passionate founders like Goiko Llobet, who is the personification of the company's purpose, changing people’s lives through meaningful and enriching international experiences. Along with Goiko come Óscar, Laura, Vito, Paco, Josean, and many more, who have made the investment process a remarkable one, demonstrating that teamwork comes above all. Everyone indeed knows that with a Valencian paella things work better, but it has been the engagement of the Growpro team throughout the process that has made Kfund build even more conviction about this opportunity. At Kfund we are proud to say that our new portfolio company is backed by a motivated, strong, united team, and we could not be more excited to start this journey together.
We can't wait to support Growpro in cracking the educational travel industry! For more information reach out Marc (marc@kfund.vc), Pablo (pablo@kfund.vc) or Silvia (silvia.sancho@kfund.vc).
