Boddle Learning, a Kansas City-based math gaming platform that helps K-12 teachers assess and differentiate their student’s learning, has raised $1.35 million in a funding round led by Atento Capital with the participation from Kansas City’s own KCRise Fund, as well as Lightship Capital, Cortado Ventures, Pharrell’s Black Ambition, and others.
According to the company’s Co-founder Edna Martinson, the latest round of investment will help Boddle connect with more teachers, parents, and students, accelerate the development of both gameplay and classroom features, and expand access, especially in under-served communities.
Started in 2018 by EdTech entrepreneurs Clarence Tan and Edna Martinson, Boddle provides interactive math-based games for schools. The company has partnered with organizations like AT&T aspire and AWS. Boddle’s gamified education platform uses 3D games and adaptive learning technology to offer personalized math experiences for K-6 students. The games are designed similar to games kids play outside the classroom and allows students to customize their own characters, play bonus games, and earn rewards while going through learning content.
In addition, the platform uses AI to evaluate students’ comprehension, adapting content to make it appropriate for each student’s skill level.
With any learning process, it’s important to take it to step by step. Boddle’s algorithm tracks students’ performance to identify which building-block skills still need reinforcement before the platform can branch out to more advanced skills. This helps ensure that students achieve mastery in key foundational skills and learn at the right pace for students.
Speaking about the capital raised, Co-founder of Boddle Learning, Edna Martinson said,
“As part of its growth and momentum, Boddle is expanding its team and has brought on a well-known Kansas City serial entrepreneur, Hugh Khan, who has a passion and expertise for building great teams to help lead development, fuel growth, and help take the company to the next level.”
Boddle integrates with popular classroom tools like Google Classroom and Clever to make onboarding and rostering easier and includes a portal that provides valuable feedback to teachers — such as a Learning Gaps Report that identifies skills that need extra instruction. The support from Google comes at a critical time as Boddle looks to integrate more with Google tools that help facilitate learning.
Edward Frindt, VC Investor and General Partner, KCRise Fund has said,
“KCRise Fund is proud to back such ambitious and mission-driven founders in Edna and Clarence. We are excited to join an impressive investor syndicate, and we feel that innovations in early childhood learning are where venture investments can create immense change and lasting impact.”
Boddle Learning had raised $350,000 in pre-seed from Atento Capital in July 2020.
