COVID-19 has radically transformed the university experience with the shift to remote classes. Many college students have decided to postpone their undergraduate studies; many of them will never enroll. Others are on contemplating whether to drop out or not. This not only presents a challenge for the colleges but also for society in general as those with just a high school diploma are expected to learn ~£1M less on average than those with their bachelors over the course of their lifetimes. Purlos is a personalized engagement platform built on Salesforce that helps academic institutions retain students by engaging and communicating with them in the channels that students are already actively using. The platform works to address the concerns of potential students during the admissions and enrollment process. The company’s digital assistant, Jenni, provides support through its AI-powered chat and for issues that cannot be addressed, the platform will escalate issues directly to administration. For the institutions, they are provided with a robust data analytics console that identifies the students that are most likely at-risk to drop out.
London TechWatch caught up with CEO David Bartlett to learn more about the challenges facing higher educational institutions, the company’s traction, future plans, and much, much more.
Tell us about the product or service.
Purlos is a platform that helps universities, colleges, and schools increase their revenue by reducing the rate of dropouts during the admissions process and beyond. We do this by revolutionizing the way in which these institutions meaningfully engage and communicate with their students and across which channels.
Jenni is a human-supported digital assistant who connects with students on the communications tools like WhatsApp that they use regularly rather than the traditional, less impactful methods of email, phone, and letters. Jenni can immediately respond to the majority of student questions and escalate them to a staff member in cases where she cannot. Helping free up staff time for them to focus on the students who would really benefit from that support.
We also provide data analytics driven by AI to help educational institutions identify those most ‘at risk’ of dropping out of the admissions process and perhaps more importantly their key drivers. This gives us the opportunity to intervene with those students on a one-to-one basis, at the time they most that need that sort of support.
How is it different?
Right now, we are the only startup focused on finding the “best-fit” students for institutions so that they don’t drop out later. We combine three aspects in a completely unique way (1) human-supported digital assistant (2) AI-driven risk metrics (3) & focused on admissions. We reduce the time and work needed by institutions to connect and engage with new applicants during the pandemic helping to reduce the stress and anxiety of the whole process.
Our analytics dashboard shows institutions how students are engaging with their enrolment programme in real-time, allowing them to make data-driven decisions about which students need what support at any particular stage in the process. Purlos allows institutions to build really authentic and optimal journeys for each and every student in a really efficient manner.
What market are you attacking and how big is it?
Our market is 16 yrs+ education worldwide. Education is a $6 trillion global market after the pandemic, and the number of global enrolments is actually predicted to double in 10 years.
This includes schools, colleges, and Universities. But our initial beachhead market is further and vocational education worldwide, especially in countries like the UK and Australia.
What is the business model?
A SaaS-based annual recurring revenue model. We sell through direct sales and marketing and focus on the key “lighthouse” institutions that all others like to follow. We further our growth through strategic industry partnerships, including industry associations and consortia.
How has COVID-19 impacted the business?
We were founded post lockdown, partly on the basis that educational institutions were among the hardest hit during the crisis and we wanted to help them navigate through this. We’ve seen student stress and anxiety shoot up, but so far we have been extremely successful at helping educational institutions navigate through this. The key has been to provide students with a 24/7 communication channel and ensuring their questions are answered immediately and efficiently.
We were founded post lockdown, partly on the basis that educational institutions were among the hardest hit during the crisis and we wanted to help them navigate through this. We’ve seen student stress and anxiety shoot up, but so far we have been extremely successful at helping educational institutions navigate through this. The key has been to provide students with a 24/7 communication channel and ensuring their questions are answered immediately and efficiently.
We have shown that even during the COVID-era of remote environments, distance learning, and virtual admission events, we can help institutions recruit hundreds of students who may have otherwise missed out on an education by revolutionizing how we engage with them.
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
Our main aim is £1 million ARR within the first full year, which is pretty ambitious, but we’ve built an amazing team. Finding early validation of product-market fit is also really important.
Our main aim though in the next six months is to support students by making the whole digital transformation of communication process easier for colleges and universities. We intend to drive adoption throughout the UK so we can support more students who are disillusioned and under-supported in their institutions, especially in this new COVID-era of remote learning environments, which drastically reduces opportunities for connection and engagement.
One of our long-term, more ambitious goals is to support 10 million students across the globe successfully complete their education as we drive adoption throughout the UK and automate our platform to be scaled across Europe and more globally.
If you could be put in touch with one person in the London Tech community who would it be and why?
The UK CEO of Salesforce. We have built our platform on Salesforce, and I believe they would benefit from our innovations.
What does being “Made in London” mean to you and your company?
London is always voted as one of the best cities to visit in the world. It is the crossroads between Asia and the Americas, and it allows entrepreneurs the ability to cross the divide and create a truly global company.
What else can be done to promote early-stage entrepreneurship in London?
More investment from angels and the government. The conservatism of investment in the UK compared to Silicon Valley slows things down a bit.
We also need to ensure that we are equipping entrepreneurs of the future with the skills and more importantly, curiosity to innovate. We should be encouraging our students to be engaged learners not afraid to ask questions or make mistakes and education is the perfect vehicle to achieve this.
What is your favourite restaurant in London?
It’s difficult to pick a favorite… Bone Daddies Ramen Bar in Shoreditch is definitely worth a visit.
