Edtech startup Mrs. Wordsmith raises £2 million to digitise the dictionary for kids

Mrs. Wordsmith, an edtech startup from London, has raised £2 million in a seed round led by Kindred Capital. Reach Capital, SaatchiNvest, and Ropart Asset Management also participated in the round.

Launched last year, the startup makes subscription-based vocabulary learning programs for young children with visual aids provided by artists. Mrs Wordsmith’s art director is Craig Kellman, who previously worked on films like Madagascar and Hotel Transylvania.

The new funds will be invested in further product development and expanding its customer base, which involves selling direct to consumers as well as schools.

“The dictionary is a utility that is crying out to be re-imagined, both creatively and technologically,” said CEO Sofia Fenichell. “We’re changing the way young people discover, use and retain words. We connect you with the right words and illustrate them in a way that you will instantly comprehend and never forget.”

“We receive many requests from start-ups wanting to exploit the latest developments in machine learning for language processing. Mrs. Wordsmith stands out from the crowd because they have created an intuitive and visually stunning dictionary that children and schools love,” added Prof Ted Briscoe from the Natural Language and Information Processing Group at the University of Cambridge, who will be joining the advisory board of Mrs. Wordsmith.

Leila Zegna of Kindred Capital and angel investor Basma Alireza are joining the company’s board.