Finnish edtech startup Kide Science raises €1M

The Helsinki-based edtech startup Kide Science has raised €1 million in a bridge financing round. Sparkmind Fund led the investment, joined by Tesi along with an R&D loan from Business Finland, ArcticStartup reports.

• Founded in 2017 by all female founders Jenni Vartiainen, Sari Hurme-Mehtälä, and Aino Kuronen, Kide Science provides a platform for teachers to teach and engage 3-8-years-old children with stories and plays. The company aims to motivate children to learn how the world around them works.
• The €1 million financing round was led by Sparkmind Fund. It is a fund from the first Nordic venture capital company supporting educational startups. The round was conducted in cooperation with Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd). It also included an R&D loan from Business Finland, the Finnish government organization for innovation funding and trade.
• The bridge round brought the total seed funding for Kide Science to €3.2 million.

“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 co-founder, Jenni Vartiainen, comments on the startup.

• With the fresh funding and under the simplified logo Kide, the company will develop more holistic activities to suit different learning areas. The round will also help to form new US partnerships.