Brisbane startup GO1 raises $10 million Series A round led by Seek

GO1, which has created an online platform through which individuals and organisations can find or create courses, has raised $10 million in a Series A round led by Seek, with participation from investors including Our Innovation Fund.

Launched in 2014, Brisbane startup GO1 allows users to browse its marketplace of courses, covering everything from compliance to onboarding and personal development, or create their own.

The startup reports it now hosts more than 500,000 courses and learning resources, with more than 22 million users across clients including Cricket Australia and Adshel having access to its content. The funding will go towards expanding GO1 into new markets.

With Seek a customer of the startup, the investment follows the companies earlier this year partnering to integrate GO1 courses into Seek’s jobs platform.

This integration sees a job seeker presented with relevant courses from GO1 while going through the job search process; if a role requires a particular educational or training requirement, such as first aid skills for example, a corresponding GO1 course will surface.

Andrew Barnes, cofounder and CEO of GO1, said the funding from Seek is an exciting development for the team, its investors, and training partners.

“Seek is one of Australia’s first unicorns and a stellar success story of a local company having global success. We’re looking forward to deepening our involvement between Seej and GO1.com and look forward to increasing our presence in new markets around the world,” he said.

Ronnie Fink, Seek’s Corporate Development Director, said there are a number of synergies between the two businesses.

“Education and training that helps people up-skill and re-skill to obtain and maintain meaningful employment is increasingly important for people. GO1.com is increasing the accessibility and ease in which people and businesses can access such education and training,” he said.

This is the latest startup investment for Seek, which earlier this year led a $4.6 million round for recruitment startup Vervoe and joined OneVentures in leading a $8 million round for Employment Hero.

David Shein, partner at Our Innovation Fund, said the strength of the GO1 team helped the fund make the decision to invest.

“In looking at an investment, we first and foremost back founders and assess the ability of the founding team to execute on its business plan. We were blown away by the team at GO1.com and are extremely excited about their opportunity to be the ‘Netflix of corporate education’,” Shein said.

GO1 last raised $4 million in late 2016 from Black Sheep Capital, Blue Sky Ventures, and Full Circle Ventures, and existing backers Tank Stream Ventures, Y Combinator, and Steve Baxter.

Image: Andrew Barnes. Source: Supplied.