Exclusive: This is why Evulpo is coming to Germany

Edtech is venturing into the highly competitive German market. The Swiss are relying on gamification like in video games for their learning platform. Will that be enough to prevail?

The market for student learning platforms in Germany appears to be saturated. Dozens of start-ups have come onto the market in recent years, with household names such as Sofatutor and Simpleclub just the tip of the iceberg. A look at the Startbase database reveals 68 edtechs with a B2C platform model. Of course, not all of them are focused on students, but it shows just how fierce the competition is.

None of this deters Christian Marty. The founder is currently working with his start-up Evulpo to find a place in this hotly contested market. Marty is certain that Evulpo, which launched in 2021 and has so far been active in the Swiss domestic market, simply fills a gap. And he can describe it in one word: Freemium.

The freemium business model is primarily known from video games: The game is basically free, but if you want to progress faster, you can unlock extras with a subscription. Marty and his co-founders Jonas Fehlmann and Manuel Kant believe that they can transfer this concept to an educational offer. "Students can learn with us at no cost," he explains. But only up to a certain point. After a certain number of summaries have been read or too many mistakes have been made in the tests, for example, all the lives are used up - Marty is actually talking about lives - and are only replenished the next day. Unless you buy a subscription. Just like in a video game. However, the founder is keen to emphasize that this is not a free-to-play offer that lures children into expensive cost traps. Evulpo's platform is also easy to use free of charge. The number of lives is so generous that normal learning progress can be achieved without a subscription.

A quarter of all Swiss students have already learned with Evulpo

Evulpo relies entirely on gamification. This allows students to track their progress and compare it with others. "This is motivating and supportive," says the founder. According to the start-up, a quarter of all pupils in Switzerland have already learned with Evulpo, and children and young people seem to be responding to the concept.

So expansion seems only logical. Evulpo has now also been available in Germany since the summer vacations. The platform has gained 120,000 users in this country since then. The edtech also launched in France this year. "And we are gaining 1,000 to 2,000 new users per day," says Marty. Good figures, but also figures that he expected. "We spoke intensively with parents before taking the step into Germany," he says: "When we described the freemium model, they were enthusiastic."

For many parents, the easy access to the learning platform is a plus point. "Nobody has to pull out a credit card first." In the long term, of course, some will do just that. However, it is still relatively unclear how well the conversion from users to paying customers will work. Evulpo only introduced the restriction to a few lives a few weeks ago. And it is currently still very generous, with five lives a day, students can get relatively far.

We don't want to revolutionize the school system

Christian Marty

In the end, parents will probably only pay if Evulpo really helps the children. That's why the Swiss have strictly aligned their materials with the learning plan, suitable for every Swiss canton and now also for every federal state. "We don't want to revolutionize the school system," says Marty. The aim is to prepare pupils for the existing system in the best possible way. "If you want to succeed at school, you have to pass exams, master homework and complete other tasks."

Evulpo wants to take the next steps this year: Spain, Portugal and Italy are firmly planned as expansion targets, and South American and African countries could be added next year. Which again brings with it special challenges. "In South America, the curricula are nowhere near as structured as in Germany," says Marty. But an increasing level of difficulty is part and parcel of any video game.