Sparkmind.vc supports Playvation's international expansion with €700k seed investment
HELSINKI, 9th June 2020
Sparkmind.vc supports Playvation's international expansion with €700k seed investment
Learning-focused venture capital company, Sparkmind.vc, has led a €700k seed funding round for Playvation, a Helsinki-based provider of children’s language learning resources.
The capital injection will be deployed to rapidly accelerate the international growth of Moomin Language School,Playvation’s core product. The business intends to significantly expand its position in key Asian and European markets, leveraging the global brand equity of the Moomin characters. The investment will also fund key hires to strengthen Playvation’s global sales and marketing team.
This investment is the fourth from Sparkmind.vc’s €40m venture capital fund. It is the second targeting early childhood education after the fund led a €1.5m seed round for Kide Science last month.
Vesa Laakso of Sparkmind.vc commented: “Early childhood education is a key area of interest for Sparkmind.vc as the global demand for engaging English language learning solutions is rapidly expanding. Playvation stands out because of its strong, evidence-based pedagogy and extensive content library. We are delighted to lead Playvation’s seed round and to support this highly experienced and passionate team of language learning experts.”
Moomin Language School provides story-based digital language learning content for children aged between three and ten years. Its unique educational approach also includes weekly group sessions that emphasize playful social interaction and learner engagement. The service also offers extensive learning material (over 900 content units) and data / reporting tools to help educators and parents monitor progress and plan learning. Notably, Moomin Language School has been the subject of numerous international research studies, all of which demonstrate the product’s ability to improve educational outcomes.
Anu Guttorm, Playvation’s CEO added: “This investment from Sparkmind.vc enables us to ramp up and deliver our global commercial strategy. We’re excited to work with them to prove the scalability of our proposition and show what we can do on the global stage. Sparkmind quickly saw the opportunity to build this business - their ambition matches our own and they’re a great partner to help us scale the company.”
The Moomin Language School already supports language learning in 27 international markets and has over 20k active users. Its well-known characters, research-led pedagogy and focus on native English pronunciation make it highly attractive to educators and parents. As a result, Moomin Language School is a key learning resource for organisations such as Kipinä International Nurseries and Preschools, Norlandia Kindergartens and Touhula, the largest kindergarten chain in Finland. Playvation have already signed nine regional distribution deals with partners, with more currently in the pipeline.
About Sparkmind.vc
Sparkmind.vc is the first Nordic venture capital company exclusively focused on the learning sector. The company invests from Seed to Series B stages in teams transforming how the world learns. Its investments are focused on solutions that improve learning outcomes, increase access and efficiency of learning or use data insight to better support educators and learners.
Vesa Laakso, Partner, vesa@sparkmind.vc, +358 40 052 3127
About Playvation
Playvation Ltd is a Finnish EdTech company designing high-quality language learning solutions for early education institutions. Their flagship product is Moomin Language School, a playful,research-based, digital language learning service. It has already captured the hearts and minds of tens of thousands of children, parents and teachers around the globe.
Anu Guttorm, CEO, anu.guttorm@playvation.com, +35840 7463 810