Canadian edtech startup Wize raises $3m to enhance online learning experience

Wize, a fast-growing online education platform that delivers course-specific video tutorials and exam-like practice problems for high school, college, and university students across North America, announced it has raised $3 million in funding.

The funds will be used to develop and launch a new, more intuitive learning platform, and accelerate growth in content development across all grades, including the addition of MCAT and LSAT test prep. In addition, funding will be used to accelerate the company's expansion across Canada and into the U.S., and to further round out the team of education, UX, and development talent who will continue to evolve the Wize platform and offering, enabling it to become the world's leading provider of online education for course-specific learning.

Cyrus Moradian, CEO, and Co-founder, Wize: "The Wize platform already has a track record of success in developing and delivering superior course-tailored content, having helped over 70,000 students across North America with thousands of courses available on-demand. We expect this momentum to accelerate as we continue our relentless focus on expanding our offering in a way that works best for students and parents. What truly sets Wize apart is our commitment to working with educators who are highly skilled and passionate about simplifying complex concepts on a platform that allows for complete personalization based on courses taught at a student's academic institution. This focus on personalization in everything we do is what will allow Wize to become a first-choice provider among students and parents at high school and post-secondary institutions and is what will propel us to become a formidable leader in online learning."

According to HolonIQ¹, the education sector is starved of capital compared to other sectors, which means governments and institutions have not been able to keep up with digitizing learning. This was compounded in 2020 with the onset of COVID-19, which shone a light on the impact of underfunding in education. However, it also highlighted the value of Wize's supplemental online learning platform, which builds learning programs that directly match high school and post-secondary course syllabuses. The under-digitization of education is the primary driver behind an expected EdTech industry compound annual growth rate of 15 percent from $157B in 2018 to $420B by 2025², and Wize expects to be a meaningful contributor to that growth.

Chris Bruzzo, EVP Marketing and Commercial, Electronic Arts: "Wize is passionately focused on helping people reach their potential and they deeply understand that we all learn in wildly different ways. Our educational institutions were not designed for that, and this last year has made that glaringly clear. During the pandemic, the Wize team accelerated their plans to aid learners at every level -- high school, college and university, and post-graduate education. Sure, it's a massive business opportunity, but the Wize experience is entirely focused on empowering the human opportunity."

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