Brainly, the Polish homework help platform, has raised an $80m Series D funding round to capitalise on the home-learning trend that has already seen its user number increase by 75% since April.

“Over the past six months, we have achieved growth milestones that we had projected to hit over the next few years,” said Michał Borkowski, the company’s CEO and cofounder. “The growth of this model has accelerated as a result of the global pandemic, forever changing the way students learn.”

Brainly users in 2019: 150m

Brainly users 2020: 350m

Brainly’s platform allows students to ask their peers for help with answering tricky homework questions — and parents, struggling to help their children with lessons, particularly as many have shifted to homeschooling, are also increasingly using the platform. Brainly is planning to add new services such as tutoring to the platform.

Brainly last raised money ($30m) in 2019, when it was planning a big push into the US. Back then it had some 150m users — now that figure has grown to 350m, some 30m of which are in the US. The company has seen a 161% growth in US user numbers this year.

Vinit Sukhija, partner at Learn Capital, one of the investment funds backing the Series D raise said Brainly was “en route to becoming a household name, both in the United States and around the world.” Additional funding would help accelerate that ambition.

Some 58% of US students are still studying virtually in the US, with reduced access to one-to-one instruction, according to a recent poll released by the National Parents Union in the US.

Brainly also wants to accelerate its growth in markets such as Indonesia and Brazil, where the platform has become popular.

The VC’s participating in the round include Learn Capital, Prosus Ventures, Runa Capital, MantaRay, and General Catalyst Partners. Brainly has raised some $150m in total so far, and is one of the best-funded Polish startups, pushing ahead of Docplanner.