It started on a rooftop, with six friends and one question.

What if learning a new craft felt less like homework and more like the best evening of your week? In 2019 we ran our first course for twelve people on a Berlin rooftop. Today Simela is a live academy for designers, analysts, writers and founders in 38 countries.

A brick campus building with a sunny lawn in front

Our story

Seven years, seen from above.

2019

A rooftop class

Twelve learners, one borrowed projector and our first UX course.

2021

Live, everywhere

We moved studios online and kept them live — cameras on, small cohorts.

2023

10,000 learners

Our 10,000th graduate presented at demo night from Lagos.

2025

Campus Weeks

Twice a year, learners meet in Berlin for workshops and critique.

2026

24 courses

Four schools, 40 working mentors and a scholarship fund.

Our mission

Make serious learning feel like the best evening of your week — and leave every learner with proof of what they can do.

countries represented in every term

94%

of learners finish their course

€180k

in scholarships awarded since 2022

What we believe

Four promises we keep every term.

Live beats recorded

Real people, real time, real questions. Recordings are a safety net, not the course.

Craft over credentials

We hire mentors for the work they ship, not the titles they hold.

Small rooms, big feedback

Sixteen seats per cohort, so every learner gets seen, heard and reviewed.

Open doors

One in ten seats is funded by our scholarship programme. Always.

Life between sessions

Hover, drag, rearrange — this is what a term looks like.

Learners relaxing on a grassy quad — Campus week, Berlin ’25

Two learners sitting on the floor with books, from above — Reading circle, 2nd floor

A purple play structure on an orange court, seen from a drone — Lunch break, from the roof

Three friends sitting on a grassy hill under a blue sky — Demo night picnic

A red brick courtyard with a green lawn, high angle — The old brick courtyard

Pastel pens on a pink background — Sketch supplies, always

The mentors

People who do the work, teaching the work.

Every Simela mentor still practises their craft. They teach one or two cohorts a year, so feedback comes from this year’s industry, not last decade’s.