Having fun while learning: SplashLearn raises $18M in Series C financing

American EdTech startup with a 10-year history, SplashLearn, announced yesterday that it had raised $8M in Series C. The total investment to date is $25M. The new round is led by Owl Ventures Fund, and also the previous investor Accel entered the project, who had previously invested $7M in the startup in Round B.

According to the project's CEO, Arpit Jain, the main problem faced by the educational system today is the reluctance of children to learn with the old methods and tools. In order to involve the young generation in the learning process in a format as close to them as possible, SplashLearn offers more than 4 thousand games and interactive tasks for preschoolers and elementary school students. In an entertaining digital format, they can explore the math and reading curriculum. The games are designed to keep children interested in the outcome of the Edutainment process.

Individual subscription for parents is a paid service. But the service is free for schools, which is used by 1 out of 3 American schools. Today there are 40M students registered on the platform, 25% of whom came to the service during the pandemic, because everyone transited to the distance learning. The main market is the U.S., but one way or another the service is used by people from more than 150 countries.

A representative of Owl Ventures emphasizes that the startup’s activities correspond to their focus on supporting innovation in educational companies. The investors see the prospect of SplashLearn’s development and its influence on the entire institution of education through the quality of the teaching methodologies it develops.

The previous project of the SplashLearn founders for developing educational programs for high school students failed, and then the pivot led to a change in the product’s audience. It was decided to switch the focus on elementary education, which lays the foundation for further education. Castdev has shown that the math is the weak point for mo little students.

According to Crunchbase, EduTech startups raised $485M in the past month alone. The Edutainment market is growing every year thanks to the development and spread of smartphones among all age groups in countries with different levels of development.