Funzi, a Finland-based education technology startup, has recently announced that it has raised 3 million Euros (MEUR) in a funding round led by Finnish and European institutional investors with participation from existing shareholders.
With the funds, the startup plans to boost its reach in new markets while providing growth in the existing ones. It also plans to bring digitalization and lifelong learning to traditional education and wants to offer a user-friendly low-data-cost platform to any kind of learner, both online and in the traditional education system.
Launched in 2019 by Aape Pohjavirta, Miemo Penttinen, and Tero Salonen, Funzi uses robust mobile technology to make courses accessible anywhere and anytime. The courses are made easy to learn and have an immediate impact on people’s lives. The unique Funzi mobile pedagogy is an innovative and scientifically-proven method to learn. To help learners to digest information, courses include learning in bite-sized portions as well as quizzes and final exams. The courses are not tied to deadlines and allow users to learn at their own pace.
With the aim of making learning accessible to everyone on the planet and a focus on 21st-century skills, Funzi allows its courses accessible on any device with a browser and at low data costs. This makes Funzi an optimal solution for both partners and users on a path of lifelong learning.
Funzi is on a mission to bring learning to 90% of the global population by using the power of mobile. The platform focuses on giving mobile users access to soft skills that are important for their employability and entrepreneurial aspirations.
Talking about the company, Founder and President of Funzi, Aape Pohjavirta, said,
“Funzi’s recent service launches and projects have validated three things about the market. First, our partnership approach can give us very rapid access to markets. Second, both mobile operators and education systems are showing significant interest in mobile learning services. Finally, and most importantly, our service is loved by our users, and they actually learn with it.”
Pohjavirta further added:
“The covid-19 pandemic and the fast pace of changes in the world of work put a tremendous pressure on the existing education system to renew itself. Funzi uses its unique pedagogy and mobile delivery technology to give everyone access to learning that makes and keeps them relevant for the job markets.”
Funzi’s business model enables scalable direct access to consumers while also supporting existing education systems in the digitalization of learning. This capability puts it in a unique market position. It can fuel its growth by providing scalable learning opportunities to education systems while simultaneously partnering with major African and Asian players.
The funding announcement is built on the success of recent partnerships with large-scale market players such as Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (100+ million subscribers), Switch Asia (500,000+ Funzi users), and Snapplify (8000+ schools).
Funzi claims to have reached over 9 million learners worldwide and has an average course rating of 4.95/5.00.
