"We want to empower seniors, help them live life to the fullest." With this statement of intent, Jon Balzategui, co-founder alongside Andreu Texido of this startup recently born in Barcelona, introduces Vilma, which has already received the blessing of a luxury godfather: the digital new business factory Antai Venture Builder, led by Miguel Vicente and Gerard Olivé.
Vilma is a platform for live online classes that works as a subscription service and allows its users to learn about any subject and, in addition, socialize with people who share their interests. The company is born with the vocation of positioning itself as a reference player in two segments with strong growth potential: the digitalization of education (edtech) and the so-called Silver Economy, that is, the huge volume of business associated with citizens over 50 years old. It is estimated that, in Spain alone, seniors generate an economic activity of 325,000 million euros, equivalent to 26% of the 2019 GDP, according to the recent study Economy of Longevity in Spain, prepared by Oxford Economics, the University of Salamanca and the International Center on Aging (CENIE).
"In a society where getting older becomes invisible, our goal at Vilma is to change the focus and empower seniors to enjoy an active life and reach the best version of themselves. The baby boomer generation is already very digitized and eager to learn new things. We clearly think there is a space for Vilma in the market," Balzategui explains to The New Barcelona Post.
It is estimated that, in Spain alone, seniors generate an economic activity of 325,000 million eurosThestartupwants to focus on a very specific age segment: people between 55 and 75 years old, that is, those who see retirement getting closer and closer and those who have already ended their working lives. They are a group with sufficient command of digital tools and for whom they have created a learning platform with a very simple operation that allows them to sign up for classes on any topic.
Yoga for adults, crochet, how to care for a bonsai, spreadsheets, Japanese cooking, introduction to photography, the magic of the Alhambra, breathing techniques, caring for an urban garden or what cryptocurrencies are and how they work. These are just some of the classes currently available at Vilma and taught by expert teachers who also find in this service a new way to monetize their knowledge.
There are classes that are repeated throughout the week or months so that users can enjoy the one-hour sessions whenever they want ---between 10 in the morning and nine at night---, while there are other topics that are limited to a single session. All classes are held live and online and allow interaction, as students can ask questions and also get to know each other.
To access this educational Netflix, you have to pay a monthly fee of 20 euros, an amount that allows you to participate in an unlimited number of classes. "People spend more and more time in their homes; instead of watching series, now they can also learn new things about any topic ---history, technology, cooking, languages, art...--- or take yoga, pilates, zumba or meditation classes," explains the entrepreneur.
Vilma started last September and, currently, already has about a thousand students each month, of which 25% participate in four monthly classes. "Now, we have 80 weekly classes available distributed in ten categories that we will be increasing; we have already exceeded 18,000 session bookings since September," says the co-founder and CEO.
New partners and internationalization
The startup was born with a share capital of 470,000 euros contributed by the founding team and Antai Venture Builder. Once the project has started, a first round of financing has already begun to be negotiated to raise one million euros before the end of this first half of the year. The objective is to incorporate a venture capital fund that believes in the future of edtech, national or international, as Vilma's intention is to scale its business model worldwide with the incorporation of new languages.
Currently, 100% of the classes are in Spanish, but in the second half of 2022 Vilma plans to begin internationalization with the opening of a first foreign market in another language. In 2023, a third country or language will be opened. "In Europe we have a very important potential market; our goal in the next five years is to position ourselves as the reference learning and well-being platform for seniors in Europe and Latin America". It is estimated that in Europe there are more than 100 million people over 65 years old and, by 2050, 1 out of every 3 inhabitants will belong to this segment.
"Our goal in the next five years is to position ourselves as the reference learning and well-being platform for seniors in Europe and Latin America""For Antai, Vilma represents a very attractive opportunity to expand our presence in the impact economyfacing real societal problems, in this case the senior population.We love that the project combines great potential for economic impact and social impact to improve the lives of older people.Additionally, Vilma has the best entrepreneurial team to face this great opportunity," affirm Antai partners, Miguel Vicente and Gerard Olivé.
Before founding Vilma, Balzategui had already launched a fintech in Edinburgh, Inbestai, and had worked at Ve Global, eDreams, and Badi. For his part, Andreu Texido, who serves as Chief Operating Officer (COO), has developed his professional career at KPMG and at the consulting firm Virtus Partners.
"The differential value of our proposal ---considers Teixido--- lies in the fact that the online community offers learning, entertainment, and also promotes socialization among senior people. The teachers are over 45 years old and we are seeing very good dynamics occurring between users and teachers. Furthermore, in many cases, we see that it is our own users who recommend Vilma to their friends, this being our main way to grow and make ourselves known."