Spotlight

What if exam prep was as addictive as Duolingo, but for passing actual tests that matter?

Quick Pitch: SimpleStudy turns painful exam prep into engaging, gamified study experiences that help students pass critical exams faster.

The Problem

• Painful Process: Traditional exam prep is tedious, and students often struggle to stay motivated.

• Content Bottlenecks: Tailoring prep to diverse exams and regions is slow and expensive

• High Stakes: Failing exams can derail academic or career progress, yet many lack affordable, effective tools.

Snapshot

• Industry: Edtech (Exam Prep)

• Headquarters: Cork, Ireland

• Year Founded: 2021

• Traction: 400K+ active users, $1M+ ARR in under 12 months

Founder Profiles

• Oisin Devoy, Co-Founder, CEO: Bootstrapped to €240k ARR before raising VC, strong product execution focus.

• Phillip Mckenna, Co-Founder: Biz dev lead, scaled lean teams efficiently.

Funding

• Current Round: €1.5M Seed (raised €1M, reopened for final €500k)

• Lead Investor: Outsized Ventures

• Other Backers: Intercom founders, Global Shares execs, and notable angels

• Total Raised: €1.55M (Pre-Seed & Seed)

Revenue Engine

• Model: Direct-to-student subscriptions

• Expansion: UK + Ireland → Europe, US, Australia

• AI Edge: Rapid content creation across subjects and regions

What Users Love

• Gamified learning keeps students engaged

• Localized content for specific exams

• Affordable and effective for high-stakes prep

• Mobile-first for study on the go

Playing Field

• Chegg: Textbook-heavy, dated UX

• Quizlet: Good flashcards, weak engagement

• Duolingo: Great gamification, not for exams

• Khan Academy: Broad but not exam-specific

Why It Matters

Exam prep is a recurring, global need—with urgency and high willingness to pay. Most tools still treat it like a chore.

What Sets Them Apart

• AI Scale: Content 100x faster than manual creation

• Addictive UX: Duolingo-style gamification, built for exams

• Capital Efficiency: Bootstrapped early, scaled smart

• Market Fit: Solves urgent, must-pass exam needs—unlike optional learning tools that are nice to have but easy to skip

• Founder Grit: Fast shipping, lean growth

Breakdown

Bulls Case 📈 

• 400K+ users show strong demand

• Gamification model validated by Duolingo ($14B)

• Efficient growth with low burn

• Large global TAM, urgent user need

Bears Case 📉 

• Localized exams slow expansion

• Regional complexity in content

• Young team, limited scale experience

• Product could face fast-follow competition

Verdict

SimpleStudy is tapping into a “must-pay” market with a product that aligns with how Gen Z learns—mobile-first, gamified, and outcome-driven. Its AI engine enables rapid, localized content creation, giving it a speed advantage over incumbents. Strong early traction and capital-efficient growth signal execution strength. The challenge will be maintaining content quality at scale—but if they solve that, this has the potential to define the next wave of global exam prep.

The Startup Pulse

• Ramp — Raised $200M Series E at a $16B valuation, backed by Founders Fund and Peter Thiel; hit $300M ARR in 2024.

• WorkWhile — Raised $23M Series B to grow its hourly labor marketplace serving 1M+ frontline workers.

• Nabla — Raised $70M Series C to expand its AI assistant used by 130+ healthcare orgs for clinical workflow support.

Written by Ashher

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