“It’s not this factory model where everyone is learning at the same pace,” said Sandra Nagy, director of learning at the Toronto-based Future Design School, which works with schools on their tech strategies. Large tech players like Microsoft (LinkedIn’s parent) and Google also increased their presence in the market during that time, waking up a sleepy learning-products sector that had been bolstered mostly by companies looking for ways to offer training programs to workers in satellite offices.ĭistance learning for adults is still a healthy segment of the market, but the more exciting piece is technology that can create personalized learning experiences for students. Yet the edtech market started to heat up in 2010, and over the next five years, venture capitalists invested $2.3 billion into edtech startups, according to EdSurge, which tracks the industry. With many primary schools operating with slim budgets, K-12 education was not traditionally thought of as a growth segment. “They tend to play it on their own time.” “A lot of the growth has been because of the engaging nature of this game,” Mahimker said. To Prodigy, eager involvement is the whole point: Children improve in math because they’ve been introduced to a game they want to play for hours. “Prodigy has a really good product but they do a lot of upselling in it,” said Jacqui Murray, who runs the Ask a Tech Teacher blog and teaches about technology in education at the Midwest Teachers Institute.

The company also sells toys or “epics” to go along with the game. Members get more game elements, like unique pets and faster up-leveling. While Prodigy is free for students to play, the company makes money by selling premium memberships (about $60 per year or $9 billed monthly). Yet in online reviews, the company has come under fire from parents who don’t like the way it markets “extras” to children.

Prodigy’s stated mission is undeniably noble: “We want to help every child in the world to love math,” says co-founder and co-CEO Rohan Mahimker. The start-up’s ability to draw talent from some of the most sought-after enterprises across the country have made the Burlington, Ontario-based company number 14 on the LinkedIn Top Startups list in Canada. Prodigy’s user base is now 37 million registered students, or roughly half the K-8 students in Canada and the U.S.

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