Online education platform Virtual Class Limited – trading as Third Space Learning (TSL) – has raised £4.4m to scale its AI tutoring service.
The funding was provided by the British Business Bank’s South West Investment Fund, managed by Maven Capital Partners, alongside Blackfinch Ventures and existing investors Foresight and Nesta.
Swindon-based TSL delivers curriculum-aligned, online one-to-one maths tutoring to primary and secondary school students in the UK and US via its spoken AI tutor, Skye.
TSL says there is an emerging shift towards AI-powered tutoring driven by the personalised, adaptive learning that AI platforms can provide. As education systems face increasingly diverse learner needs, the company says AI tutors such as Skye can continuously adjust pace, difficulty and feedback based on individual performance.
The investment will enable TSL to invest in Skye, fuelling product development to improve learning impact through AI and expanding distribution across geographies, subjects and languages.
The funding will also support the business as it scales, building a dedicated US function to accelerate international growth.
“There is enormous momentum behind AI in education right now, but real impact only comes when AI tutoring is built on the same evidence and rigour as high-impact human tutoring,” says Tom Hooper, CEO of Third Space Learning.
“This funding allows us to move with greater speed and ambition, deepening Skye’s capabilities, expanding into new markets and reaching more of the students who need it most. Closing the maths achievement gap at scale is what drives everything we do, and the support of Maven brings us a meaningful step closer to that goal.”
