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Swedish edtech startup Zcooly acquires Peppy Pals, another edtech focusing on developing children’s EQ through story-telling

Zcooly, Peppy Pals

Stockholm-based startup Zcooly has acquired Peppy Pals from the same industry. Zcooly leveraging the popularity of games in young students and offer a world of educational games in which kids between 5 and 12 years can sharpen their math skills. Peppy Pals was founded in Sweden by Rosie Linder, an economist and mother of two children, to equip, strengthen and nurture children’s social and emotional intelligence through storytelling. With this acquisition, Zcooly will be able to speak to the ages 2-6 along with its target ages (5-12) in not only math but also EQ development.

Zcooly acquires Peppy Pals – “We will become Europe’s leading EdTech company”

On June 1, the EdTech company Peppy Pals was acquired by Zcooly. Since 2013, Peppy Pals has been developing games that focus on EQ (Social and Emotional Intelligence) and are aimed at children under six years of age. The acquisition means that Zcooly broadens its target group and can offer a more complete training package.

“It’s a perfect match. Both we and Peppy Pals were early to realize how powerful the game is as a tool in the learning process and we are very impressed with the product they have created,” says Jonathan Wadström, CEO of Zcooly.

Since the first of June, the EdTech company Peppy Pals has been part of Zcooly, which operates in the same industry. Through the acquisition, Zcooly broadens its offering and deepens its investment in EdTech; the company has long developed games for children aged 5–12 years and can also offer games for younger children between the ages of two and six through the acquisition. Unlike Zcooly’s existing games, which focus on math, Peppy’s Pals is about developing children’s EQ, that is, emotional intelligence. The games have been developed together with children, researchers and psychologists with the aim of teaching preschool children about friendship, emotions and empathy. The goal is for children to be confident in talking about emotions while several studies show that school results improve when children have a higher emotional intelligence.

“EQ can be compared to one of your cornerstones in life. Mental illness is a major problem among children and young people today and research shows that the earlier children learn to talk about emotions, the better protected they are against mental illness later in life. In addition, we see how children with high EQ often perform better in school,” says Rosie Linder, founder of Peppy Pals.

When Peppy Pals was founded in 2013, they were the first in the world to make games about EQ without using text or language. The success was almost immediate and in 2016 the company was named one of the world’s most successful social entrepreneurship companies by Ashoka and UBS Social Innovators. Today, Peppy Pals is in preschools all over Sweden and has close collaborations with, among others, SOS Children’s Villages, Storytel and Sony. Peppy Pals has also been backed by LEGO Ventures in the past. The collaborations are not affected by the game becoming part of Zcooly’s product portfolio, but will continue as before. In connection with the acquisition, one of Peppy Pal’s co-founders, Björn Eriksson, was also hired by Zcooly, while the other two, Rosie Linder and Paulina Olsson, will be available on a consulting basis.

“We are very happy about this acquisition and look forward to bringing in the skills that the founders possess. Peppy Pals is already a big brand, both in Sweden and abroad, and that journey of success will continue. We share a vision and have long gone side by side in this industry – together we will be even stronger and aim to be the largest in Europe at EdTech,” says Jonathan Wadström.

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