Edtech Cluey Learning will make its ASX debut on December 9

Online tutoring company Cluey Learning is set to make its ASX debut next month, joining remote learning companies such as OpenLearning (ASX:OLL), ReadCloud (ASX:RCL) and 3P Learning (ASX:3PL) in a sector that’s seen strong tailwinds amid the pandemic.

The company is expected to hit the ASX on December 9 with a market cap of $143.5 million after raising $30 million in an IPO at $1.20 a share.

The company says it has has set out to transform education using big data, artificial intelligence and a scaleable platform for delivering quality tutoring.

Classroom learning is much the same as it was 30 years ago, Cluey chief executive Mark Rohald told Stockhead last week.

“It feels very stuck in an industrial model,” he said. “That doesn’t make sense.”

The company has 620 tutors that have over 154,000 sessions since launch in July 2018. It tutors Australian year 2-12 students in live one-on-one and small group sessions.

Rohald said that more than 100,000 datapoints are tracked during each session to improve the learning experience for students and parents.

All sessions are recorded for quality-assurance purposes and parents receive regular progress reports.

In a traditional tutoring session, “you have no idea what they’re up to. You pay and you pray,” Rohald said.

The tutoring costs $80 a week for individual sessions or $45 a week for small group sessions, he said.

“It’s affordable to parents, it’s tutoring for the masses, and most of them consume it on an ongoing learning plan,” he said.

Online sessions were up 364 per cent in FY20 compared to FY19, and up 338 per cent in the first quarter of FY21, compared to the previous quarter.

Cluey reported $4.9 million in revenue in FY20, up 441 per cent from the $900,000 it made the year before. It suffered a $16.5 million loss, up from $12 million.

The company is forecasting a 218 per cent revenue growth this financial year.

Cluey might enter the UK market at some point, but that’s at least 12 months away, Rohald said. It sees opportunity in Australia, given that an estimated 40 per cent of the four million schoolchildren here have used or considered using tutoring services.

“We are growing at an enormous rate, and we want to make sure we’re not distracted,” he said.

“It’s a good position to be in, as we just get better and better as we scale faster and faster.”