There are lots of different approaches to the amorphous market of ‘e-learning’ but only a handful ever feel much like fun. I think amongst the best of these are sites like MangaHigh which teaches Math, or Moshi Monsters which has subtle learning tasks for kids.
Another which works well is Quipper, which, in a Q&A format, helps people learn things in a sort of game. Today it’s announced that it has raised $3.6m (£2.3m) of Series A funding led by Globis, the Japanese VC. The round has been two other investors: Atomico, the London-based VC firm led by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström and Benesse, a major Japanese education and publishing company.
The fundraising, which seed funding from Atomico last year, will be used expand with an emphasis on increasing the amount of content on the platform
Founded by Masa Watanabe, a co-founder of Japanese mobile social gaming company DeNA, Quipper’s app asks users to answer a series of questions, and they learn during that process. You can also use it to create your own quiz programmes, making the app appeal to teachers and parents but also to professional training companies.
The London-based company says its 1.7 million users have answered questions on the platform 85m times in 2,000 topics since it launched in October last year. The app exists on the site and on Apple iOS and Android.