Purlos an admissions platform designed to help educational institutions increase their revenue by reducing student drop-outs during the admissions process, has raised GBP300k from multiple investors in the education space from the UK, US and Germany.
Purlos an admissions platform designed to help educational institutions increase their revenue by reducing student drop-outs during the admissions process, has raised GBP300k from multiple investors in the education space from the UK, US and Germany.
The funding will be used to grow its team, expand its product offering, and fuel its broader mission of supporting at least 10 million students in completing their education and decreasing the skills gaps that are developing around the world.
Founded by David Bartlett and Mo Salam, Purlos uses a ‘human supported digital assistant’, (affectionately referred to as Jenni) to engage with students through WhatsApp and other platforms to help support them through their enrolment process. Incredibly, students deciding to defer or deciding against attending altogether is estimated to cost the industry GBP3 billion per annum in lost revenue.
According to the company, the problem is twofold; the traditional methods of communication such as telephone calls, emails and letters are less successful at engaging with today’s student in a way that they perhaps were with previous generations and busy admissions team are having to manage hundreds or perhaps even thousands of different enquiries at any one time.
To help educational institutions solve this Purlos has created a platform aimed at maximising student capacity by building authentic student journeys that encourage early and consistent engagement throughout the admissions process.
David Bartlett, Co-Founder & CEO, says: ‘We connect on platforms they already use which means we’re able to engage with students quickly and efficiently and only 10% of the question’s students ask are directly answered by admissions staff, massively freeing up their time to focus on the students who need the most support.’
It is currently the only start-up that is focused on student conversion in FE colleges.
Founded post-lockdown, and with a mission to assist one million college students complete their education by 2025, the start up is well on its way, having already helped eight institutions across the UK digitise their communication and supported over 2,000 students into the next stage of their education.
Salam says: ‘The results so far have been fantastic, we have shown that even during the COVID-era of remote environments and virtual admission events, we can help institutions recruit hundreds of students who may have otherwise missed out on an education by revolutionising how we engage with them.’
Purlos is now looking to drive adoption throughout the UK, and automate its product to eventually be scaled across the EU and globally.
