Melbourne edtech raises $3.3 million to help schools improve student performance and wellbeing

Melbourne data analytics startup Intellischool has raised $3.3 million as it looks to go global with its edutech platform.

The round was led by Sydney VC EVP and supported by social impact investor Save the Children Impact Investment Fund, edtech ventures Schoolbox and Curio Ventures, and personal backing from several edtech entrepreneurs. The capital is to bolster customer growth and for product enhancements amid ambitions to tackle primary and secondary schools in international markets.

Intellischool’s SaaS platform takes data from multiple software sources to give teachers, school admin, students and parents insights that help student performance and wellbeing. Dave Philp and Josh Turci founded the startup in 2018.

Philp said teachers can get frustrated and overwhelmed by having to switch between software systems so Intellischool was designed to surface insights within the existing solutions teachers use daily to offer “in the moment” insights to act on.

“In my previous roles working with schools, I saw first-hand the frustration teachers experienced in making the most from their data,” he said.

“Initial excitement for all new and exciting software was quickly displaced by confusion as valuable information sat across multiple siloed tools. Teachers and school staff were crying out for a way to make sense of all this unactionable data. Josh and I were very deliberate in building a solution that made simple and actionable insights a part of day-to-day learning and teaching.”

A typical school tech stack can span more than a dozen software solutions, ranging from a Student Information System, to a Learning Management System (LMS), several digital curriculum providers, plus multiple learning, assessment and student wellbeing tools. Philp said that makes it difficult for information to synchronise between solutions to draw insights for student benefit.

“It’s immensely gratifying to see how Intellischool’s product has become mission critical for teachers, students, and school administrators. For teachers, our software allows them to see student performance and identify at-risk students,” he said.

“For the homeroom teacher, year level coordinators, and student mentors, automated and timely notifications have proved critical in facilitating check-ins with students, prompting out-of-cycle interventions and identifying which students may require priority attention.

He added that giving principals and school administrators holistic data on student performance enables them to apply for needs-based funding and grants to service underperforming students.”

“We’ve seen huge demand for our product since going live only two years ago. Schools need little convincing to come on board, and ultimately understand that our product improves student outcomes, teacher job satisfaction and overall school performance,” Philp said.

EVP investment manager, Mark Velik said the edutech startup has strong traction in a notoriously difficult to access market, which demonstrates its inherent value.

“Our discussions with Intellischool customers and prospects confirmed the deep emotional relief provided by Intellischool’s product and the seriousness of the problem to be tackled,” he said.

“Initial offshore customers proved it was a global opportunity of scale for the business to address. In Dave and Josh we saw the perfect founders to tackle this huge task with their deep relevant experience in data and technology roles in schools.”