3/2/2023 0 Comments Sumdog game![]() ![]() US investors were looking for larger companies and preferably ones with US-based directors. Hall recalls that since Sumdog pivoted in 2010, the team has met various investors. “People are the key growth drivers in tech companies.” “Many VCs don’t try to get to the bottom of the management’s capability,” he says. If investors really thought about it, he says, it would probably mean their investment is even more successful because it’s all about the people in the business who represent most of the value. “If you said your mission is to close the attainment gap, but all you talk about is how much profit or revenue you’re making, you’re sending out separate messages,” he says. ![]() “Most investors would probably run a mile if they heard that,” says Hall. Revenue and profitability are secondary considerations in Sumdog’s primary mission. “With Nesta, we’ve created a sophisticated impact model,” he adds. The Nesta Impact Investments team – supported by Big Society Capital, Omidyar Network and innovation foundation Nesta – worked with Sumdog to determine metrics that expressed its mission, explains Hall. To fund its growth, Sumdog raised £850,000 from Nesta Impact Investments and £550,000 from the Scottish Investment Bank last year in its first foray into equity fundraising. Social impact investing may not appeal to the mainstream venture capital (VC) market in the UK, but a growing number of investors are backing these businesses. Hall explains that while the company’s social and financial metrics are highly correlated, “our main impact metric is king and that’s what’s driving everything”. Sumdog continues to scale up with a 50/50 focus in the UK and the US. Our main impact metric is king and that’s what’s driving everything.Īndrew Hall, Sumdog Social impact drives the model Sumdog has “1.5 million active learners” in the UK and US regularly using its online games-based English and maths learning tools. This was a turning point in helping to shape his company’s mission “to close the educational attainment gap by helping all children reach their full potential”. Sumdog’s co-founder and CEO Andrew Hall says meeting a secondary school student who couldn’t count up in twos was a sad reflection of poor maths skills. ![]()
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