99math raises $1M to enhance edtech gaming platform

Estonian startup 99math has raised $1 million to enhance its edtech math gaming platform aimed at producing math enjoyable.

The 3-year-old 99math has a multiplayer math game that teachers use in classrooms about the world. After debuting as a beta tool in 2019, 99math grew into a gaming platform for kids with more than 300,000 customers. Together, students in 99math have solved more than 170 million math difficulties. It turns out one of the tricks to finding children into math is to get kids competing with every other in the classroom.

“For some kids, it’s the hardest and the the most boring subject,” stated Tõnis Kusmin, CEO of 99math, in an interview with GamesBeat. “But games are designed for the player and when designed well, they can keep us incredibly engaged. In education, gamification has been around for a while. But I don’t think many of the edtech gamified solutions are actually very engaging.”

That traction helped it landing the funding to enhance usage in the classroom and implement monetization. Genesis Investments led the round, with participation from Change Ventures and 5 angel investors from leaders at corporations such as Bolt, Transferwise, and Pipedrive.

Proceeds from the existing round will be invested in the development of a mobile game for children to play at home and premium plans, Kusmin stated.

Courting teachers, monetizing parents

99math is a cost-free tool for teachers and schools to engage students and it performs as a platform for game-based math practice. Math difficulties are generated based on teacher preferences, and students play on their personal devices.

“Our first goal was to build a product that teachers would actually want to use in the classroom,” Kusmin stated. “We optimized the tool for teachers to use in a classroom.”

Starting a game requires significantly less than a minute, and the whole classroom can play at as soon as. I played it and it helped me workout my addition muscle tissues for the 1st time in a even though. I solved 22 difficulties in a minute on the 1st attempt. And I got superior on the second attempt.

“What we’re measuring here is fluency,” Kusmin stated. “You need both accuracy and speed. Imagine doing the same thing with 29 kids in the classroom and you’re all competing to do the best.”

Both teachers and parents can track the progress that kids make more than time.  When children get unfavorable feedback about their expertise, they commence to think they are not superior at it, Kusmin stated. Eventually, they attempt significantly less. The focus for 99math is to style enjoyable games 1st, Kusmin stated.

“It’s all about delivery of knowledge,” he stated. “I saw how we could build a game that would be engaging for kids. It doesn’t have to be matching three candies. It can be solving math tasks. And it’s not that not that different. I saw a way where we can engage kids doing the math as well.”

The game tries to celebrate results and reward the player for progress to motivate the kids to preserve at it. So far, important markets incorporate the U.S. and Latin America.

The organization lets teachers use the platform for cost-free, but it hopes to make funds from parents. Other corporations have monetized parent subscriptions as effectively. That helped the organization when it came to fundraising.

“In the past, educational tech has had a very slow and long sales cycle, but we are building a self-service subscription model,” Kusmin stated. “Our investor has already invested in some tech and game startups, and they understood that monetizing parents can be scaled up faster.”

“As a teacher, you select the skill, click on it, and the game is up and running,” he stated. “What teachers like is that it requires virtually no preparation time.”

An seasoned group

Kusmin previously began 3 distinctive edtech items, such as the Tebo platform utilized by 50% of Estonian teachers. The cofounders incorporate Timo Timmi, who is named in the Transferwise 20 Under 20 entrepreneur list in Europe, and Ain Arend, who constructed his 1st content management program in higher college and led the tech group at ADM.

Vital Laptenok, the basic companion at Genesis Investments, stated in a statement that 99math has strong traction and organic development. The venture firm hopes to share its knowledge in subscription firms with 99math to support it attain higher scale in the U.S. and globally.

The organization has 10 persons now, spread across Estonia, the rest of Europe, and the U.S.

The organization is adding more features. It began with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It has mapped out games for the future from 1st to sixth grade. Then it hopes to branch out into other types of lessons. It’s conceivable that this type of competitive play could be utilized for esports, he stated.

“We developed this model that is really engaging for students to play and compete with other students,” he stated.

Originally appeared on: TheSpuzz