NewCampus goes after the intellectually curious as it aims at Series A funding

WHILE the Central Business District rapidly empties out at 7pm, "school" goes into session on weekday evenings at WeWork's City House workspace on Robinson Road, made possible by education startup NewCampus.

Singapore-based NewCampus runs classes for working professionals, with the aim to revive in-class, offline learning in a field dominated by Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

Launched in 2015, the startup was previously known as QLC, an online platform helping people to explore careers that involve working remotely. It rebranded itself as NewCampus in February this year and kickstarted its classes in Singapore.

NewCampus plans to raise Series A funding in end-2019, but does not have a specific target sum in mind for now, co-founder and chief executive Will Fan told The Business Times.

The startup counts co-working space provider WeWork as a venue partner, running classes and events at three of WeWork's local workspaces, namely at City House, Suntec City Tower 5 and on Beach Road. There are no exclusivity arrangements in the partnership. NewCampus brands itself differently from other schools for working professionals.

Instead of offering classes that teach narrow skillsets, NewCampus's sessions are centred on issues and problems, with a focus on emerging industries, cultural and cross-border trends and 21st Century skills. It is appealing as much to a working adult's desire for self improvement as it is to the intellectually curious.

Topics of previous classes have included blockchain applications, the impact of online influencers and design-thinking.

NewCampus has an initial pool of 50 members and about 300 applicants on its waiting list. Members pay S$99 a month for access to these classes and can cancel their membership at any time.

"When we think about reinventing education, we think about alternative parallels like the gym, where you are constantly improving, but not necessarily making too many changes to your daily life," said Mr Fan, a 30-year-old Australian national.

"In the 1980s... people used to work out at home, or run around their block. But what made the gym concepts, like yoga fitness and CrossFit, (gain) such a cult-like following, is that it was about habit and branding change. We are trying to do the same as an education startup."

NewCampus aims to grow its total number of members to 700 by the end of this year, as well as to increase the frequency of its classes. Concurrently, the startup is eyeing expansion to New York later this year, also in partnership with WeWork.

NewCampus secured the WeWork partnership by participating in 2018 in the Future of Work Technology Sprint incubation programme in New York. The programme was run by consulting firm Mercer and WeWork Labs, which works with early-stage startups.

The programme helped startups to come up with proofs-of-concept addressing workforce innovation. Through this, Mr Fan and fellow co-founder and Australian national Fei Yao, 30, saw the potential of tapping on WeWork's unutilised space.

Meanwhile, WeWork saw how NewCampus could add value for its members, according to Adrian Tan, WeWork's head of labs for South-east Asia. WeWork members can currently access NewCampus classes, some of which they can join for free.

"What I like about NewCampus is that they address discovery - that I don't know what I don't know, but if I join this, I can find out my interests and maybe do a deep dive later on, while keeping a pulse on what's out there," Mr Tan told BT.

"If this (partnership) works, then it also potentially unlocks a new revenue model for us, where we can explore models like revenue-sharing, for businesses like NewCampus to see WeWork as a platform to help distribute (services)," he added. WeWork presently offers a preferential rate to NewCampus for rental.

WeWork has been doubling down on education services globally. In 2017, it acquired Flatiron School, a coding education platform in the US. When asked if WeWork could invest in or acquire NewCampus, Mr Tan said that he is unable to comment at this stage.

For Mr Fan, having WeWork on board opens new doors. "Now we have a global partner to help us copy and paste new campuses, pun intended, all around the world very easily," he said.

In growing the startup's profile, he believes that NewCampus' model could gain more traction: "It (will) not just be, 'Hey, here are these young Australian kids trying to build a radical type of school', but (about how) we've actually done really interesting things in different parts of the world."