Edurino's digital education platform raises €10.5 million series A

Building gamified digital learning apps "fit for the 21st century", Munich's Edurino raised €10.5 million in series A funds for its platform that introduces digital to kindergarten children.

The round was led by DN Capital with participation from FJ Labs and Tengelmann Ventures — the early-stage VC formerly aligned to Tengelmann Group —  with existing investors Jens Begemann, btov and Emerge Education filling out the round.

Edurino has sold more than 100,000 products in DACH region to families who trust its hybrid learning software; 160 places of learning, including kindergarten, are using the platform just a year after launch. It entered new distribution channels last year via agreements with 10 major DACH retail partners, including the likes of Media Markt, Müller, and My Toys.

Gamified lessons, a touch screen stylus and haptic toy figurines tap into children's inquisitive side until they're about eight years of age.

Edurino was founded by a team of educators and occupational therapists under co-founders Irene Klemm and Franziska Meyer, now readying the ship to enter other European markets later this year in the wake of the DACH regional launch.

"In 10 years time our children will be working in jobs that do not exist in this form today," said co-founders Klemm and Meyer in a press statement.

According to data from GlassDollar, last year saw Edurino join Germany's top 100 growth startups and the team's successes have been recognised with multiple plaudits, including a German Excellence award in the startup category.

A key part of the platform's pedagogical appeal is embedding very early skills that could lead to competence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and just as children take their tentative first steps into reading and understanding speech.

"To meet this skills gap, we have opened a new chapter of digital education with Edurino. Through the magic of games, we want to equip children with the skills and experience to understand and harness the positive power of digitalisation. The strong feedback from thousands of families and the collaboration with our partner kindergartens is driving us to expand Edurino globally," adds Klemm and Meyer.