If an edtech startup disappears and nobody notices, did it ever exist? Luvo, formerly Flashnotes, seems to have gone into hibernation, or possibly full shutdown. When you are visiting the website these days, all you see is a wooden texture and a “Thank you from Luvo” note in the browser tab.
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Boston-based Luvo was (or still is) a well-funded edtech startup in the class notes marketplace vertical. The startup made early headlines as Flashnotes.com when it gobbled up smaller competitors and eventually raised over $14 million in venture capital, including investment from Cengage Learning and Barnes & Noble College.
We have covered Flashnotes / Luvo over the years, and it appeared to be a decent business model - that is when you ignore the general controversy around selling class notes on online marketplaces like Flashnotes and others.
The best explanation for the apparent shutdown I got at the moment is that competitors like Course Hero or Chegg are taking the lion share in the market. Both companies are probably more attractive to students as they have a variety of services to offer under one roof and the potential audience for selling class notes would also be larger.
Last year, Luvo entered the hot on-demand tutoring vertical, catching up with competitor Chegg. Chegg integrated an on-demand tutoring service after its acquisition of InstaEDU in June 2014.
To learn more about why this vertical is expanding rapidly, check out our EdTech Trends coverage of On-Demand Tutoring.
Related: The future role of the teacher in an increasingly on-demand tutoring landscape.
What surprises me the most is the fact that besides myself and some other outlets covering the edtech space, no one, Luvo users included, seems to have noticed or cared. There are about two or three tweets about the shutdown on Twitter and two comments on Luvo’s LinkedIn profile. No rage, no rants, nothing - which is really weird. One would assume that both sides, students who make a living selling their notes and those who purchase them to ace exams went ballistic if their source of income / knowledge is cut off from one day to the next.
@luvolearn does your website not work anymore?? Stressin & need study guides for finals😖
— Danielle Fleet (@fleeez) April 23, 2016
@luvolearn is shutdown... How will I pass my exams 😅😅😓
— Ariane Custic (@arianecustic) April 19, 2016
I reached out to for comment to several of my contacts but at the time of publication no one could shed some light on the happenings.
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