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British AI edtech startup, founded by female barrister-turned-entrepreneur, just raised $6.5M

CENTURY Tech
Image credits: CENTURY Tech

Demand for cutting-edge education technology has soared during the pandemic while education has gone online. Among the companies that have mushroomed in this scenario is London-based AI edtech startup CENTURY Tech, which builds AI technologies to improve education and transform learning in schools worldwide. The company just secured $6.5 million (nearly £4.7 million) in funding.

Plans to scale AI-powered learning

Two-thirds of the investment in the oversubscribed round came from new investors, including MIT Solve’s philanthropic venture fund Solve Innovation Future. CENTURY Tech will use the investment to scale its AI-powered learning technologies to more schools across the world, following an acceleration in the adoption of technology in education. The company will also ramp up its efforts to expand its backend AI technologies to publishers and other content owners globally.

Priya Lakhani OBE, Founder CEO of CENTURY Tech, said: “The pandemic accelerated the pace of innovation in education – fast-forwarding the use of technology in learning by years in just the space of a few months. Advanced technologies like AI are here to stay – in the classroom, for homework, to aid with marking and planning, and generally to make the processes of teaching and learning far more effective. We are looking forward to being able to help more schools than ever before to realise the power of AI to transform education for the better.”

Susan Nesbitt, Head of the Global Innovators Community at the World Economic Forum, said: “We’re excited to welcome CENTURY Tech to our 2021 cohort of Technology Pioneers. CENTURY Tech and its fellow pioneers are developing technologies that can help society solve some of its most pressing issues. We look forward to their contribution to the World Economic Forum in its commitment to improving the state of the world.”

Casey van der Stricht, Principal of Solve Innovation Future, MIT Solve’s philanthropic venture fund, said: “CENTURY Tech is working to ensure that anyone, anywhere, at any level realises their ultimate learning potential. Priya and her team are rightfully focused on scalability of the AI learning platform model, especially given the increased demand for virtual learning technology—and at Solve, we are equally excited about how this tool can customise learning to support all students.”

Uses AI to transform education

Founded by entrepreneur Priya Lakhani OBE in 2013, CENTURY Tech has been named a
Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum/Davos. Previous cohorts have included Google, Twitter, Spotify and Palantir. As Pioneers, CENTURY’s Founder CEO Priya Lakhani OBE will join WEF events and initiatives and work with global leaders to address key issues in education.

Its mission is to help educators across the world to remove learning roadblocks so that every student can succeed. CENTURY uses artificial intelligence, neuroscience and learning science to personalise learning. Its platform learns how each student learns, providing each learner with a personalised pathway to mastery while equipping educators with detailed data insights and saving them hours of time in marking and planning.

It is used by leading schools such as Eton and Dulwich College, as well as large groups of international schools like Cognita Schools and The City School group. The usage of CENTURY’s platform surged by over 400% in the last year.

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