ReadyFireAim invested in Digital Teaching Tools Finland, a startup behind Whiteboard.fi online whiteboard tool for teachers and classrooms. The investment marks the first EdTech investment made by ReadyFireAim.
Founded by Sebastian Laxell and Jaakko Virtanen, Whiteboard.fi is an online whiteboard tool for teachers with over 6 million monthly users all over the world, mainly in the US, Saudi Arabia, and India. The user base varies from teachers to educational institutes.
Made with the pedagogical approach in mind, Whiteboard.fi is a result of Finnish educational and pedagogical expertise combined with innovation and technology. The solution was born in 2016 when Sebastian, a teacher, and IT entrepreneur, published the first version in order to provide the teachers with a tool designed to help teachers with formative assessment in the classroom or during remote learning.
In Whiteboard.fi, every student will get a digital whiteboard, where they can draw, write text, make notations on images, add math equations, and more. The teacher sees all students' whiteboards in real-time, following their progress, while the students only see their own whiteboard and the teacher's. Whiteboard.fi is an instant formative assessment tool for the classroom, providing live feedback and an immediate overview of student progress.
The investment discussions were kicked off in the Games of Ideas -event at Raasepori castle, where Sebastian was pitching the case and Reima was one of the judges in the event. “What struck me immediately was the number of users they had, as well as the quality of the solution. At the same time, I realized that we need deep EdTech know-how in the case, so I introduced the team to Janne Jormalainen, one of the leading education investors”, comments Reima Linnanvirta.
“Getting experienced angel investors onboard really helps us drive our business forward. Already we have worked with them on the business model, go-to-market strategy, and so on.” notes Sebastian Laxell, and continues “In addition, they opened access to the startup programs of AWS, Hubspot, and Stripe, all of which have been very valuable for us.”