Finnish education export at its best: Digital prep course finds an international audience
WordDive's digital matriculation exam prep course achieved market leadership in Finland in just two years. Now the company is looking for funding to accelerate its international growth. Next destination: Germany, the birthplace of the Abitur exam.
25% of Finnish high school seniors are already preparing for their language exams with the help of WordDive's digital prep course. 98% of them would recommend the course to others. The course was developed by the Finnish educational technology company WordDive and uses an award-winning, AI-based application to help users to learn languages.
"We estimate that 40% of Finnish high school seniors will use WordDive in 2017," says WordDive CEO Timo-Pekka Leinonen.
Next, WordDive will head to Germany, where the Abiturprüfung exam is very similar to that in Finland. "Test marketing in Germany was a success, so our goal is to achieve clear leadership in the German prep course market by 2019. We're working on this together with Samu Haber, the front man of the band Sunrise Avenue, who is a major celebrity in Germany," says Leinonen.
After Germany, the company is the most likely to head to China, where the local final exam Gaokao plays a defining role in a young student's future studies and career. WordDive's equity offering, released in the crowdfunding service Invesdor today, has already raised over 470 000 euros from 230 investors during pre-release marketing. The aim of the crowdfunding round is to raise a maximum of 800 000 euros of new capital.
"WordDive is an internationally competitive product based on personal optimisation, gamelike features and the use of multiple senses. The prep course can be used on a computer as well as on iOS and Android mobile devices. A grade guarantee makes the course even more attractive: for example, Finnish students who complete the prep course but don't get at least the second best grade in English will be fully refunded," Leinonen says.
Read more about WordDive's equity offering at Invesdor.com/worddive
Contacts:
Timo-Pekka Leinonen, CEO, WordDive Oy
timo-pekka.leinonen@worddive.com, +358 40 506 6048
Mikko Savolainen, Communications Manager, Invesdor Oy
mikko.savolainen@invesdor.com, +358 40 747 5205
WordDive in a nutshell:
WordDive is an AI-based unique application for learning languages. In addition to prep courses, WordDive offers language courses for adult learners, with 10 languages and hundreds of courses on different levels to choose from. WordDive combines the best of Finnish education know-how and game industry and has won multiple awards, such as Best E-learning Solution in Finland and Best Mobile Service in Finland. In spring 2015, WordDive made it to the Red Herring Europe Top 100 list. WordDive has over 250 000 users in 150 countries.
More information: www.worddive.com
Invesdor in a nutshell:
A financial technology (fintech) company founded in Finland in 2012, Invesdor operates an online investment platform that connects ambitious European growth companies with investors worldwide. So far Invesdor has helped raise more than 25 million euros and hosted more than 70 successful equity crowdfunding campaigns.
Invesdor is the Nordic market leader in equity crowdfunding platforms measured in invested capital and revenue in 2015. Invesdor's clients include private and publicly traded companies from Finland, the UK, Norway and Denmark as well as investors from more than 50 countries. Invesdor has offices in London and Helsinki.