Germany, Berlin, August 3 — bina, a digital primary education ecosystem, as raised $1.4M to provide precise education for 4-12-year-olds at scale. The round is led by Taizo Son, a billionaire previously included in Japan’s 50 Richest, through Mistletoe.
Other investors include Jutta Steiner, Founder at Parity Technologies, the company behind Polkadot decentralized protocol, and the company has advisors like Lord Jim Knight, Ex-Minister of Education (UK).
Only a select group of the estimated 1.5 billion primary-age children have access to high-quality education. Meanwhile, approximately 58 million primary-age children are out of education, most of whom are girls. The 40 million teachers across the globe are leaving the sector on an unprecedented scale – a highly concerning issue given that an additional 24.4 million primary teachers will be needed to achieve universal education.
Even in better scenarios, teaching is designed to hit the centre of the bell curve, so no child receives precisely the education they need.
"I've interviewed students, teachers, and parents globally for years, and it is clear a new systemic design is needed," says Noam Gerstein, bina's CEO and founder. "With our founding families, we are building a world in which every child has access to quality education, educators' skills are valued and continuously developed, and parents don't need to choose between their work and family life."
The bina School provides digital, borderless and personalized primary education children need, with:
- Tiny classes of 6 students worldwide: this is 3x smaller than the OECD average.
- Adaptive learning paths that cover and exceed international standards through a narrative-based approach.
- Master Teachers with a minimum of 8 years of digitally savvy teaching experience.
- Data-driven decision making and research constitute bina's pedagogical offerings.
"We gain an end-to-end understanding of students' and educators' development by curating and integrating pre-existing tools into one seamless schooling experience. We gather data and analyze short- and long-term trends by monitoring patterned behaviour. This allows us to have an accurate view of what each student and educator know and can do. At a meta-level, we gain insight into how teaching and learning work in a digital medium and how we can better it, to craft an educational offering that is always the right level of challenge."
Because The bina School designs the system and methodology with its students and teachers, it grants the company's shares (RSUs) as they grow with the school. The bina School is currently available to English-speaking students capable of attending classes within the CET timezone.
"We are now interviewing founding families for our pre-K cohorts. We seek families that ethically align with our mission of building high-quality education at scale and are excited by the benefits of precision education for their children," Gerstein says.
By 2024, the team will launch bina-as-a-service, partnering with governments, NGOs and school systems, offering its tech-bound methodology, including teacher training and accreditation, to bypass social, economic and geographic barriers to quality education.
With the money raised, bina will cover its educational operations, R&D and expand the team.
About the bina school
The bina school is a digital education ecosystem that delivers personalized education for 4-12 year-olds at scale. With bina, teaching is borderless, data-driven, and made to fit the lives of today's families. Small classes of 6 students and precise data allow its master teachers to precisely tailor lessons to suit each student's individual needs. The team is building a future in which every child has access to quality education. For more information, please visit https://www.thebinaschool.com.
