Munich Startup: What does your startup do? What problem do you solve?
Jana Krotsch, Ubimaster: Ubimaster enables all students unlimited access to private learning support and tutoring, regardless of their parents’ income. We’ve built a digital platform that enables on-demand connections with tutoring teachers. Our KaaS (Knowledge-as-a-Service) business model is subscription-based and targets both individual and corporate customers, similar to software-aaS business models.
Munich Startup: But that already exists!
Jana Krotsch: Not that I know of – we are the only ones in the market that consistently focus on on-demand learning support and tutoring as well as B2B and B2B2C business models. That way, we’re radically transforming the market!
“I was just annoyed by having to search for tutors”
Munich Startup: What’s your founding story?
Jana Krotsch: I’m the mother of three school-age children and things don’t always run smoothly at school. I was just annoyed by having to search for tutors, book them, and be uncertain whether the quality was right – and then still having to be an impromptu tutor myself before exams because the tutor was only booked once a week.
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Jana Krotsch: Online and offline sales to end customers is incredibly expensive – it eats up almost all the revenue. Out of necessity, we focused on alternative sales channels, and that’s working very well for us!
Munich Startup: How is business going?
Jana Krotsch: We’re extremely satisfied with our growth – already today, 40,000 parents and students have access to our learning support and tutoring.
Ubimaster is closing a funding round
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Jana Krotsch: With UnternehmerTUM and the LMU Accelerator, there are excellent platforms for early-stage companies that have supported us – Munich is really well set up in this regard. There are also numerous business angels who take the first steps with startups. For further financing rounds (seed, series A, etc.), Munich isn’t optimally positioned yet, so we had to look outside Bavaria.
Munich Startup: Quick exit or long game?
Jana Krotsch: We’re closing our seed financing round, with a mix of German and American VCs on board. This will allow us to grow even stronger and work toward a series A round. So there’s a lot to do, and we have plenty of momentum and stamina!
