Kahoot! raises $10 Mln, tops iOS charts

Game-based learning platform Kahoot! has closed a $10 million funding round, aiming to use the capital for investments in the development of additional game formats, strengthening the global team, and new applications for brands, publishers and audiences in its game space.

Kahoot! has seen it’s growth rocket in just a few years — it is the most popular game-based learning platform in the US K-12 market, and can boast with 30 million active users each month.

Kahoot!’s Android App has been a serial Top Performing App in Google Play, with long-awaited iOS app shooting to the top of the charts just after the release this week. It reached the No 1 educational game spot in 7 markets, including the United States, according to research firm App Annie.

The latest investment round was led by Fredrik Cassel from Creandum, with current investors Northzone and Microsoft Ventures also participating in the round.

“We had a 3-year plan to become a platform (and a brand with a license to teach), now we have 3 years to become a format and protocol for social learning. This excites us all, as it has a huge potential … That made it easy to find alignment with the investors we chose in the end,” Johan Brand, Co-founder and CEO of Kahoot!, told ArcticStartup in an interview.

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Since its 2013 launch Kahoot! has turned game-based learning into a pop culture phenomenon.

“Their platform has spread teacher-to-teacher and has literally taken over the world. I look forward to working with the team as they increase presence in the US and as they step up development of both free and premium products to capture the exploding demand” said Fredrik Cassel, Partner at Creandum.

The platform now hosts a public library of 10 million learning games, created and shared by fans in 180 countries.

“We are big in the classroom, but as a learning brand, we are performing very well beyond the classroom. We are for sure the only teachers-led product that has become pop cultural phenomena in the United States,” said CEO Brand.

“We believe that popular culture has a big role to play in the classroom. If teachers are provided with content that is pitched at the right level for students and is relevant to their individual lives they will engage deeper in the underlying structural knowledge,” Brand said.