Learnlink, which provided digital homework help and coding courses for children, has been declared bankrupt by Oslo District Court.
Founded in 2016 by Jonas Hyllseth Ryen, Johannes Berggren and Tellef Tveit, the company saw a sharp rise in demand during the pandemic. Learnlink raised NOK 6.4 million to support its growth, of which NOK 4 million came from private investors and NOK 2.4 million from Innovasjon Norge. Two years earlier the company had also raised NOK 2.2 million from an investor group that included former Kistefos Venture Capital leader Ditlef de Vibe. Company leaders told Shifter that by the autumn of 2020 three times as many families had contacted Learnlink as the year before.
The upswing was followed by tougher times. In January 2023 Hyllseth Ryen said growth in the coding courses had flattened in 2022 and the company had deprioritized its homework-help offering. Lower-than-expected revenues and weaker customer purchasing power prompted layoffs, cost cuts and the postponement of plans for a new capital round as the business shifted its focus from growth to profitability, ultimately leading to insolvency.