Sophia Technologies Sets to Reimagine Education after £560k Investment Round
Sophia Technologies Sets to Reimagine Education after £560k Investment Round
Sophia Technologies, co-founded and launched in 2018 by Melissa McBride, has exceeded its investment target by nearly double. A start-up that has just turned 2 years old and is worth over £2.5 million, Sophia is a UK based EdTech disruptor bringing full time, online British education and on-demand private tuition options to the £191bn1 global EdTech sector.
Sophia offers on-demand flexible private tuition targeted at the rising gig economy workforce, and clients who want flexibility and convenience but won’t compromise on quality, an exciting programme of online courses for kids with SophiaX (sophia.app), as well as a full-time online school which launched in August 2020 (sophiahigh.school).
Sophia Technologies Ltd, an education, tuition and technology start-up in London, that has seen a surge in its popularity amid the coronavirus outbreak, has exceeded its initial target of £300,000 by nearly 80%, and has reached a total of more than £560,000 through Seedrs, with more than 360 investors.
According to Melissa McBride, CEO and Co-Founder, the investment will be used to grow the business by investing in customer acquisition and retention, through both UK and global expansion opportunities and partnerships, and through enhancing the learning experience with increased technology capabilities and innovation.
Sophia is riding the wave of interest in remote blended learning opportunities, the continued rise of private tuition and the digital transformation of the education sector. The value of this sector of the tech industry has been highlighted in the 2019 – 2020 period, as the numbers of $1 billion+ valuations by VC backed investments in global EdTech start-ups continues to grow beyond expectations.
Fuelled by a willingness to be innovative and to use the expertise of its core educational leadership team to expand its EdTech offerings during the COVID 19 pandemic, Sophia is writing its own exceptional growth story during this period of digital change and disruption in education, and the boom in venture capital investment in the Edtech sector.
Driven by the motto “Education Reimagined,” Sophia Technologies Ltd provides high quality, personalised educational provision, both for clients who are seeking full time online British schooling options following the UK National Curriculum for students from age 5 – 15 (Y1 – Y9) (sophiahigh.school), and also for those who require supplementary support for their children through private tuition and through our SophiaX co-curricular programme of online courses and camps. (sophia.app)
Sophia students experience a highly engaging and interactive learning environment, which is rooted in recognising every student’s individual learning journey; supported by our expert team of educational leaders, teachers, tutors and mentors. While the sector is filled with players and new entrants focusing on provision for students aged 16+ (GCCE / A Level and Beyond), Sophia stands out as the only UK Online Education Provider which offers children as young as Year 1 (Age 5 – 6) upwards the opportunity to join and benefit from our exceptional online education provision at Sophia High School.
Co-Founder and CEO, Melissa McBride notes:
“As an educational leadership team which shares over 48 years of headship and teaching experience at outstanding schools in the UK and abroad, what concerned us most when we began to investigate both the online schooling and private tuition sectors was the lack of regulation and quality assurance checks in place for parents who try to navigate the new world of education, which is presenting itself. Ensuring child safety and protection through our rigorous safeguarding and safer recruitment practices, and through high quality, effective, learning outcomes for our students are the key drivers for every aspect of our business.
What will define the leaders in this growing industry sector is the ability for an organisation to provide a learning environment where parents can trust that their children are getting the best help as we work to prepare them for their future: A world with challenges and opportunities beyond those any of us can currently imagine.
We must not compromise the opportunity to use the digital learning revolution that we are currently experiencing to provide students with an exceptional learning experience, whether in a global online school setting or when working with tutors in a 1:1 environment. This is an incredibly exciting time to be an educational leader, leading from the front and defining the course of the EdTech sector as we unlock new opportunities for a generation of future leaders. This is Education Reimagined.”
For more information about Sophia and our online education provision visit www.sophia.app / www.sophiahigh.school
About Sophia Technologies Ltd
Sophia is an EdTech company, which provides a number of educational provision services including full time online education, SophiaX Camps & Courses and Private tuition via the Sophia on-demand mobile app.
The company was founded by a group of senior education professionals who together have over 48 years of experience teaching in the Independent Sector. They developed Sophia to meet the needs of progressive clients and students living in a highly competitive, changing world. Even before the pandemic, Research and Markets forecasts the online education market as part of the wider EdTech Industry as worth a projected $350 Billion by 2025.
Sophia offers best practice in the safer recruitment of our online education teachers and private tutors, within a largely unregulated industry. As part of its commitment to safeguarding, Sophia follows the guidelines outlined Safer Recruitment in Education for our Teachers and by The Tutors’ Association, and ensures that all of its teachers / tutors are DBS checked, and their qualifications are verified. It also provides Professional Indemnity and Public Liability insurance cover for all sessions, to protect both students and teachers/ tutors.
For more information about the Sophia and the variety of services it offers, please visit www.sophia.app / www.sophiahigh.school