EasyPeasy, a leading provider of school readiness solutions, announced today that it has completed a seed capital fundraising round with the help of ClearlySo, Europe’s leading impact investment bank. EasyPeasy plans to use the funding to develop a consumer version of their current B2B licensed web app, and massively expand their content bank of ‘home learning’ games.
Nearly half of children aged 5 are not ready to succeed at school because they have not achieved a good level of development at home (Marmot Report, 2014). This school-readiness gap is wider for children from low income families and strongly predicts major inequalities in education, health, wealth, and wellbeing, over time. Meanwhile the long-term economic costs due to childhood social, emotional, and behavioural problems are estimated at more than £2 trillion globally (Social Science and Medicine, 2010).
EasyPeasy helps solve this problem with an app for parents of preschool aged kids that supports learning through play at home. EasyPeasy games develop the skills children need for school, and beyond. The app effectively reduces the gap in school readiness through increasing positive parent engagement. A live B2B product is sold to Local Authorities, nurseries, and primary schools, who then distribute a free app to disadvantaged families, and a B2C app is currently in development, for launch in early 2017.
Jen Lexmond, EasyPeasy’s founder and chief executive officer, said: “Our mission at EasyPeasy is nothing short of transforming children’s life chances. By the time children arrive for their first day of school, aged 5, there is already a significant gap in development that goes on to predict major inequalities in health, wealth, and wellbeing. At EasyPeasy, we aim to eradicate that gap through the use of innovative and interactive technology that helps children build the foundational skills that will set them up for school, and beyond.”
Further commenting, Stefano Cappanari, investment manager at ClearlySo: “By partnering with notable organizations and delivering a scalable solution, EasyPeasy deals with the issue of social mobility at its roots. We were delighted to support EasyPeasy, a truly research-based venture, with capital from mission-aligned investors and a new board member, so that it can deliver a commercial solution to more and more families.”
About EasyPeasy
EasyPeasy is an app for parents of preschool aged children that supports early learning through play. Through getting parents and children interacting and playing together more regularly, the app effectively develops the skills that children need for school, and beyond
EasyPeasy is developed by the social enterprise Character Counts Ltd and is based in Hoxton, London
A recent study found the use of EasyPeasy to be statistically significant in improving school readiness among infants.
About ClearlySo
ClearlySo is Europe’s leading impact investment bank, working exclusively with businesses and funds delivering positive social, ethical, and/or environmental impact as well as financial return.
Originally founded in 2008, ClearlySo has helped more than 100 clients raise more than £108 million in impact investment from its extensive network of high-net-worth individual and institutional investors.
ClearlySo is headquartered in London.
