Millions of students are opening the Knowunity AI learning platform before they open a textbook. That shift says something real about where student behavior is heading – and about how well-designed EdTech can scale when it’s built from inside the classroom.
Knowunity started in 2020 when four 17-year-old students in Germany noticed a gap. Every other part of daily life – shopping, fitness, finance – was becoming more personalized and responsive. School wasn’t. So Benedict Kurz, Gregor Weber, Lucas Hild, and Yannik Prigl built the product they wanted to use themselves.
From Notes App to AI Companion:
The platform launched as a TikTok-style hub for student-created study notes. Students could upload their own revision materials and browse what others had shared. That peer-generated content model gave the platform an organic content flywheel from day one.
Over 380,000 student creators actively contribute to the platform today, and Knowunity says this content pool now fuels its personalized AI tutor – which draws from more than 3 million peer-created materials, localized across markets and aligned to national curricula.
The product has expanded well beyond note-sharing. The current Knowunity AI companion covers AI chat, AI-generated quizzes, flashcards, exam simulations, homework scanning, and structured summaries. Students using the platform now open it more than five times a week on average.
The Numbers Behind the Growth:
Knowunity now serves over 20 million users across 15 countries. In Germany, one in three students uses the app. In Latin America, the platform reached one in ten students within just a few months of launching.
The platform’s own homepage puts the current figure at 30 million users across 20 countries as of early 2026, reflecting continued growth since the Series B announcement.
In June 2025, Knowunity raised €27 million in a Series B round led by XAnge, bringing total funding to €45 million. The round included participation from Portfolion, Isomer Capital, Project A, Redalpine, and Educapital.
The funding is being directed toward building out the AI companion further, expanding the engineering and AI team, and entering new markets – particularly the US and Asia.
How the Business Model Works:
Knowunity runs a freemium model. Core features are free, and an optional premium subscription unlocks more advanced functionality. The majority of revenue now comes from that B2C subscription business, being rolled out country by country. The platform also partners with brands like Vodafone, Gothaer, and Porsche for employer branding integrations.
The Knowunity Pro subscription is the main conversion target. It positions the platform’s premium AI tools – like AI exam simulations and extended chat access – as the value layer above the free content library. This structure lets the platform grow through free usage while converting engaged users into paying subscribers.
Why Student-generated Content Scales:
Most EdTech companies rely on commissioned or licensed content. That creates cost and localization bottlenecks. Knowunity’s model inverts this. Students create the notes, and the platform’s AI is trained and grounded in that material.
This means the content is already aligned to local curricula, written in the language students actually use, and constantly refreshed as syllabuses change. It also gives the platform a significant data advantage – the more students contribute, the more accurate and contextually relevant the AI responses become.
The peer-creation model also drives a social dynamic. Students share materials, build reputations as creators, and use the platform to connect around academic topics. That social layer is part of why word-of-mouth remains Knowunity’s strongest growth channel, according to the company.
Expansion Moves Worth Tracking:
The US and Asian markets are the next major bets. Both represent large, underserved student populations where personalized AI study tools have strong demand but limited local alternatives built specifically around school-age learners.
The platform also runs a creator program, allowing students who produce popular content to earn recognition and rewards. This is a meaningful retention and acquisition mechanism – it turns power users into platform advocates.
Building in EdTech:
Knowunity’s growth shows that peer-generated, curriculum-aligned content can outperform top-down content creation at scale. The AI companion layer becomes more useful the more localized data it draws from – and a freemium model that delivers real value at the free tier converts meaningfully when students are deeply embedded in the product.
The platform’s next chapter involves deepening the AI layer, expanding geographically, and building out the subscription business in new markets. The numbers from the website suggest that momentum has continued well into 2026.
The Knowunity creator program and the AI companion feature suite are the best places to follow how the product continues to develop.
