Miami, Florida, United States
Careerist is an online education and fintech company founded in 2019 and headquartered in the United States, with the majority of its workforce distributed across Turkey, Armenia, Latin America, India, and the Philippines. The company finances, trains, and places underserved job seekers into technology roles, targeting career switchers aged 25 to 35 as its primary audience and recent graduates as a secondary segment.
Ivan Tsybaev, a co-founder and the person interviewed, told Nathan Latka in April 2023 that Careerist generated $12 million in cash revenue in 2022, up from $5 million in 2021 and $1.7 million in 2020, and was targeting $25 million for 2023. The company turned profitable in August 2022 and was generating between $300,000 and $500,000 in monthly profit at the time of the interview.
Careerist has raised approximately $10 million in total funding from Y Combinator and other investors, including a $1.2 million seed round in 2020 at a $20 million post-money valuation and an $8 million Series A closed in 2022 at an $80 million post-money valuation. The company charges students $4,000 upfront or roughly $5,500 on a deferred two-year payment plan, and was enrolling approximately 500 new paying customers per month as of April 2023.