Kide Science, a Helsinki-based EdTech company focused on playful and engaging early childhood learning, has raised €1 million to expand its platform from primarily science education into all early years subjects.
The financing round was led by Sparkmind Fund, in syndication with Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd), and also included an R&D loan from Business Finland. The investment takes the company’s total seed funding to €3.2 million since launching in December 2017, according to a news release provided by the company.
Developed by Jenni Vartiainen, Sari Hurme-Mehtälä, and Aino Kuronen, after years of intensive research, Kide Science 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, Co-founder & Head of Research whose doctoral thesis is the origin of Kide Science, 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 maths, language, social emotional learning and social studies. It’s incredible, really."
Kide Science has already transformed the way over a million children, parents and teachers learn together through stories and play. And the company doesn't want to stop anytime soon. With the new funding, the company said it will develop even more holistic activities to suit all different learning areas.
Kide has also forged a partnership with DreamWorks’ Gabby’s Dollhouse, and a wide range of lesson plans and activities have been created; to be used in tandem with the hit Netflix show, which are available now on Kide’s teacher platform.
The company said the new investment will also focus on accelerating Kide’s growth in the US, which will enable Kide to pursue new US partnerships and explore key international homeschooling markets. In addition, the company added, 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.
In June 2022, Kide Science won the First Education Finland Award as the best learning solution for international markets. The company said consideration 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 stated "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."
The jury consisted of Tuomo Puumala from the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, Minna Kelhä from the Finnish National Agency for Education, Aija Bärlund from FIBAN, Mika Ihamuotila from Marimekko, Lenita Toivakka from Chamber of Commerce as well as Jarmo Viteli from the University of Tampere.
