Oneday, the platform that helps entrepreneurs turn their passion into business, announces £2.5M seed funding

Oneday, a new EdTech platform helping aspiring entrepreneurs turn their passion into a business through expert-led coaching, community & content, has today launched with £2.5 million seed funding.

The seed funding round was co-led by BrightEye VC, a leading venture capital firm prominent in the EdTech space, and Outward VC, the renowned venture capital firm with a focus on early-stage fintech startups in the UK and Europe. The funding round also saw participation from Flint Capital, and well-known angel investors including Joshua Wohle, CEO at Mindstone and Co-founder of SuperAwesome.

The investment will be used to expand the team, accelerate product innovation and scale up growth.

Previously, Oneday secured £750,000 in pre-seed funding, with their mission to create an alternative education system for the half of society who are not born for corporate careers, or dream of being an entrepreneur.

According to a recent survey, nearly a third of UK workers are considering changing jobs in 2022, but even more interestingly, in 2021 ‘how to start a business’ was searched more than ‘how to get a job’.

Oneday works by providing aspiring entrepreneurs with ready-to-launch ideas and matching them with wildly successful CEOs as mentors, a community of fellow founders, and all the content and tools they need to launch and fund their business. It was co-founded by Ranbir Arora and Taras Polischuk, both formerly from Sweatcoin, the health & fitness fintech app, and now are CEO and COO respectively for Oneday.

Oneday is also a champion of diversity, making entrepreneurship more accessible to everyone, irrespective of gender, ethnicity or background. In fact, 51 percent of Oneday’s founders are female, whilst 56 percent are ethnic minorities.

Greg Smith MP, Co-Chair of the Free Market Forum said:

“Following the 2008 financial crisis, a huge part of our economic recovery was down to individuals taking a risk, being entrepreneurial and starting new ventures.  We need that same spirit to grow the UK economy following the damage Covid restrictions wreaked.  The ambition for a million new businesses by 2025 is to be encouraged and I wish OneDay well in their venture to secure this entrepreneurialism and drive.”

Ranbir Arora, CEO & Co-founder of Oneday, comments:

“Today, the careers that we aspire to are all within the passion economy; as people are sat in their cubicles in large corporations, they’re saying ‘One day I’m going to launch my own makeup line, one day I’m going to launch my own music label, one day I’m going to become a YouTuber.

For corporate career paths, we have this massive higher education system that helps people get those careers. But nothing exists that helps get people into these passion economy careers that they dream of. That’s why we created Oneday, so we can help everyone create lives and careers that they love.”

Membership at Oneday is a fraction of the price of university, and it connects entrepreneurs with the experience, network and tools to kickstart their dream business. With over 1,500 mentors; Business founders, CEOs, Executives, Marketing Directors, Product Managers and more, it has several success stories already, including Jake Casson, who founded the FinTech firm Monet. Jake onboarded 7,000 beta users and raised £550,000 with the help of his Oneday mentor.

Ben Wirz, Partner at Brighteye:

“Oneday combines best-in-class learning practices with an incredible community of mentors to provide useful, structured feedback for entrepreneurs through ideation, launch and growth – it’s a step change in entrepreneurship education and we’re excited to be onboard.”

Kevin Chong, Co-Head at Outward VC, comments:

“Having backed dozens of startups over the years, I’ve seen first-hand the value a good mentor can provide to an entrepreneur. But I’ve also seen when that relationship hasn’t worked, when expectations are unaligned and meetings with mentors soon feel like a chore.

“Oneday changes all this, by formalising the coaching process. Our hope, and one of the reasons why we invested, is that in the not-too-distant future Oneday can be a viable, and much more affordable, alternative to higher education.”

Jake Casson, CEO at Monet & Oneday member:

“The Oneday community has been life-changing. I had a great experience with my mentor James. Not only has his advice been extremely impactful for my business, but he actually helped me close a pre-seed funding round!”