Edutech accelerator program EduGrowth announces its first intake

Australian edutech accelerator EduGrowth has announced the five startups that will be participating in its first full-time accelerator program.

From a pool of over one hundred edtech startups, the five chosen candidates span across primary, tertiary and institutional-level education.

The six month accelerator program will expose them to a network of over fifty mentors, investors and leading edtech entrepreneurs, including Dror Ben-Naim, CEO of adaptive online learning platform Smart Sparrow, and Genevieve Gilmore, COO of online assessment platform Learnosity.

Each participant will also receive a $50,000 seed fund in exchange for six percent equity, in addition to the opportunity to pitch at the Arizona State University and Global Silicon Valley conference in Salt Lake City during May.

EduGrowth CEO, Riley Batchelor, who will lead the accelerator as an entrepreneur-in-residence, said the program will help each business navigate the complexities of the startup journey.

“This Full Time Accelerator aims to break down some of these obstacles, demystify the complexities of the education industry and ultimately drive the success of these young businesses on a global scale,” he said.

A key focus of EduGrowth, each startup was selected based on its ability to provide accessible education.

Speaking about the announcement, EduGrowth Chairman Patrick Brothers said the program marks an exciting milestone in establishing borderless education in Australia.

“Education is our third largest export and EduGrowth’s vision is for Australia to be a world leader in scalable, borderless education. We have been impressed with the standard of applications and the quality of teams in the program. I hope this encourages entrepreneurs across the country to get serious and go global,” said Brothers.

EduGrowth was formed only last year, with the goal of getting 100 million global student learning annually from Australian edtech companies by 2025.

The organisation is supported by an investment of over $1 million led by Navitas Ventures, which is used to form the EduGrowth Early Stage Investment Fund that enables the accelerator’s seed funding and future investment in alumni companies.

The selected startups are:

Prevyou

Helping to “connect theory with practice”, Prevyou’s online platform connects students with graduate and internship positions. The startup also helms a podcast series about young entrepreneurship and offers online courses designed to give graduates a real taste of the industry or role they’re interesting in.

Craftsposure

Following the shift from traditional methods of business and marketing to the digital age of social media, Craftposure provides modernised online business courses teaching its students how to turn a selfie into profit.

Life is Yellow

The startup offers a fast-paced fantasy iPad game designed for kids based around mathematics. The game integrates near 20,000 questions involving mental arithmetic into battles that, if answered correctly by the player, allow them to progress. Parents and teachers are able to monitor the progress of the game through a dashboard.

BEcoME

BEcoME is looking to design products and programs offline and online to help inspire children and young adults to explore and discover their career and life, as they navigate an increasingly dynamic world.

JIFox

Looking to help students overcome the burden of trying to find practice exams when studying for a test, JIFox wants to provide a space that gathers past exams from courses across the board.

Image: Riley Batchelor. Source: Supplied.