Mana raises £1.5M to help inspirational creators teach their skills and share their passion

LONDON ​— 26 Jan 2021​— Mana, a London-based pre-seed startup, has successfully raised £1.5 million in funding led by Flash Ventures to create the world’s leading platform for everyone to make a living by sharing their passion

Mana’s platform allows inspirational creators to teach their skills by building a personal channel to post subscription content, host 1-to-1 sessions and organize live classes. The platform attracts creators across four major categories, including Tech and Startups, Careers, Academics and Lifestyle. To learn more about Mana, visit: https://mana.tech.

James Lo, Co-Founder & CEO of Mana and formerly of SoftBank Vision Fund and McKinsey, commented, “The barriers to entry to teach skills is far too high today – you either need to know how to put together long, well-animated courses on a MOOC platform, or sell your personal brand so well you get millions of views on social media. Many skilled people aren’t necessarily social media marketing experts; but on Mana, they can deliver personalized insights in 1-to-1 or live settings, and get paid more by 100 subscribers than 1 million views.”

Mana already received over 350 applications to join as Creators within the first 3 days of release, including senior executives at late-stage startups, product managers and engineers at megacap tech firms, consultants at top-tier management consultancies, investment bankers at bulge-bracket banks, and many other high-quality applicants.

Mana is also working with nano-influencers with more than 10,000 followers. Bobby Tang, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, and formerly of Apple and Amazon, commented, “Many social media influencers are creating phenomenal learning content, but barely making a living in an ad-based model where they constantly need to ask viewers to Like and Subscribe. Our subscription model empowers these creators to make a living with 100 appreciative fans. Our proprietary recommendation algorithms focus on quality of engagement, rather than absolute popularity, so that users will see relevant and inspirational content. This allows creators with small, but very engaged follower bases to grow and be discovered by new audiences.”

Lo adds, “The beauty of Mana’s model is that it translates across professional areas like career advice to things we do every day, like cooking and fitness classes. On the same platform, you can chat with a top professional about your resume, get personal feedback on your cooking from your favorite foodtuber and correct your push-up form during a live class by the fitness guru you follow.”

Mana will launch a private beta in Q1 2021 and aims to raise a further Seed Round by the end of 2021.

Lo said, “We are incredibly proud of the team we have assembled – from high school drop-outs who taught themselves programming; to engineers who paid their way through university by working night-shifts at supermarkets, we are a team of self-made individuals helping everyone make a living by sharing their passion.”

To learn more about Mana or request to become a Creator, visit https://mana.tech.

Media Contact Details
Bobby Tang, Mana
London, United Kingdom
press@mana.tech