Boston-based Flashnotes purchases smaller rival Moolaguides

By Nicel Jane Avellana

Mar 04, 2014 11:24 AM EST

Flashnotes has purchased Moolaguides, TechCrunch reported. Financial terms about the deal were not disclosed.

Based in Boston, Flashnotes is a platform that allows students to put up study materials like notes, flashcards and video help, for sale or purchase them. Moolaguides, meanwhile, is its smaller rival that holds headquarters in Florida. It was only last month when backers Stage 1 Ventures, Runa Capital, SoftBank Capital and Atlas Ventures invested $3.6 million in the Series A funding round of Flashnotes, the report said.

In a statement, Flashnotes's Founder and CEO Mike Matousek, said about the acquisition, "Moolaguides was created with a similar vision to help college students earn money - and to get better grades, and Tom has developed an impressive business. We're excited by this opportunity to expand our student-to-student marketplace, particularly at FSU, and we think Moolaguides users will really benefit from our expanded selection of study materials and payment distribution for student sellers." Florida State University senior Thomas Brady established Moolaguides, the report said.

The acquisition also signifies an increasing trend of mergers in the online education segment. Flashnotes bought NoteUtopia in July last year so that it would be able to get a foothold on the West Coast. In a market where Chegg and other large online education firms with deep pockets take the lead and where MOOCs has almost taken out the need for students to attend a brick-and-mortar classroom, the consolidation of startups is vital, the report said.

So far, the revenue of Moolaguides is around $400,000. Matousek told TechCrunch that it has paid students around $375,000 to students using the platform. While Flashnotes does not share the total amounts it pays out, its top five student earners getting anywhere from $5,000 to $11,000 by offering their study media on the platform. Matousek added that Flashnotes is on its way to taking the service to about 300 universities this year, the report said.

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