Fast growing EdTech startup Vygo has raised £1.5m in a pre-seed funding round supported by Angel Investment Network, the world’s largest online angel investment platform. Vygo is a Saas platform reinventing the conventional social support ecosystem in higher education.
Offering personalised support services beyond the physical campus, the business already works with a third of Australian Universities and is rapidly growing in the UK. The raise will help it expand in the UK and Europe and fuel its ambition to build borderless social education for every student.
The round was led by Edtech VC Sparkminds and supported by Angel Investment Network. Other participants include Edtech accelerator Supercharger Ventures and the Australian Catholic University. The funds will be used for platform development and expansion of its UK and European presence.
The demand for Vygo has soared in the past few years as a result of the increased demand for HE institutions to extend their support services digitally. A recent JISC study estimates that up to 96% of university students require additional access to support during their undergraduate degree. This demonstrates the need for support services to be more accessible than ever to ensure that students are getting the best educational experience possible.
Ben Hallett, Vygo CEO & Co-Founder, comments: “At Vygo, we believe that every human deserves a world-class education and that social experience is at the core of impactful learning. The Vygo platform gives every learner a social education community filled with their peers, mentors, tutors, advisors and other supporters. With Vygo, education institutions are able to reinvent their social support ecosystem online and ultimately improve their student outcomes whilst scaling their impact. We were delighted to work with AIN to find amazing investors and individuals through a well-streamlined process.”
According to Sam Louis, Director, Angel Investment Network: “We’ve worked with some fantastic EdTech startups in recent years – Ben and the Vygo team are right up there with the best of them. Their focus on the social and pastoral side of education resonated with us right away and, combined with significant international traction, investors within our network from right across the globe felt the same. The need for this platform has only accelerated in the past few years with so much learning being done remotely and we’re delighted to have helped Vygo on their journey.”