Edtech startup Kide Science (Kide) has just secured a capital investment of €1 million. Based in Finland, Kide is aiming to encourage new ways of learning and has been awarded the Education Finland Award for its fresh approach to education.
The world of education is no longer dictated by stuffy classrooms, dusty textbooks and strict lesson plans – at least, it doesn’t need to be. Edtech is a growing sector, building on research into best learning practices and using cutting-edge tech to provide fresh takes on education that are more beneficial to learners mental wellbeing, curiosity and long-term skills acquisition.
Aiming to encourage learning that is based on a child’s curiosity and sense of wonder, Kide wants to motivate children to learn how the world around them works, whilst also making life a little easier for overburdened teachers. The startup has just scored €1 million and picked up the First Education Finland Award as the best learning solution for international markets.
The Funding
The capital boost was led by Sparkmind Fund, in syndication with Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd) and also included an R&D loan from Business Finland. This significant investment will take the company’s total seed funding to €3.2 million since launching in December 2017.
Kide: A child-centric education model
Developed by three female founders – Jenni Vartiainen, Sari Hurme-Mehtälä and Aino Kuronen – after years of intensive research, Kide is on a mission to get children excited about how the world around them works. At the same time, the platform aims to ease a busy teacher’s life with ready-made lesson plans based upon a child’s sense of wonder.
Jenni Vartiainen explained: “Our research and feedback from customers shows that a child’s imagination can help learning in more areas than just science – there’s really compelling evidence that shows hands-on learning through stories and play is effective in all areas: we’ve seen it help develop skills in math, language, social emotional learning and social studies. It’s incredible, really.”
Kide has already transformed the way over a million children, parents and teachers learn together through stories and play. And they don’t want to stop anytime soon. With this new funding, the edtech team will develop even more holistic activities to suit all different learning areas.
Kide has also secured a partnership with DreamWorks’ Gabby’s Dollhouse. A wide range of lesson plans and activities have been created; to be used in tandem with the hit Netflix show. These are available now on Kide’s teacher platform.
The new investment will also focus on accelerating Kide’s growth in the US – enabling Kide to pursue new US partnerships and explore key international homeschooling markets. In addition, a senior UX designer and Head of Product will be hired who will develop the current product into a more streamlined, yet enhanced user experience.
Kide has also picked up plenty of attention in its home market of Finland, winning the First Education Finland Award this summer. Consideration for the award was given to the impact, innovativeness and scalability of the solution; the pedagogical quality and background of the solution, as well as the technical quality, accessibility and support a company provides. The jury also paid attention to the business model and its ethical sustainability.
The jury commented: “Kide Science is an inspiring solution that sparks the desire to learn and experiment. It provides insights and a joy of learning and appeals to a wide audience. The jury sees the solution’s massive potential to be an impressive, significant, and even world-changing solution.”
