U Inc., a spinoff from gig economy software development platform Koder Inc., today launched an online learning platform that enables anyone to teach classes and earn money from fees they set.

U provides a digital platform using Zoom Inc. video and live chat that prospective instructors can employ to do live classes as well as set costs and recruit students. U handles payment and billing, collecting a fee of between 5% and 10% for each class. Classes can be offered as a single live session, a series of classes or prerecorded and delivered on demand, although the company is initially focusing on live delivery.

“Think of us as a Shopify for the individual,” said Elmer Morales, founder and chief executive of both Koder and U, referring to the popular rentable e-commerce platform. “We allow any individual to essentially become an instructor and teach on any topic they want. Our goal is to be a platform and a tool and to get out of the way.”

U is hardly the first company to democratize online training. Others include Skillshare Inc., Udemy Inc. and the nonprofit Khan Academy Inc., but U will focus on live instruction whereas the others primarily use prerecorded video.

Given its roots in coding, the initial focus of the service will be on software development. However, Morales said the goal is for additional topical areas to be added over time. “Within Koder we have thousands of developers who are essentially freelancing. We’re bringing them onto this platform,” he said.

During the launch phase instructors will be hand-picked with 25 on board on day one. “Early on we want to make sure quality remains high, but as we scale we expect to introduce a rating system that bubbles up the best instructors,” Morales said.

Instructors will be free to set their own pricing, although U is encouraging them to make initial classes free and charge for additional sessions. Pricing is likely to be all over the map. “A lot of it will depend on where the instructor is based,” Morales said. “In some countries a $5 class could be a lot of money.”

U is hosting a number of classes for free at launch, including sessions on web and mobile development, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and coding for kids. At the moment, admission is by invite code, which can be requested on the company’s website.

Photo: U Inc.