Edtech platform Your Favourite Teacher (YFT) is raising capital to expand its operations through private equity investment firm Growthdeck, as Covid-19 sees more schools build online learning into their standard curriculum.Your Favourite Teacher (YFT) is a virtual classroom for GCSE students, which augments and supports the existing Key Stage 4 curriculum with rich video content, automated marking and pupil performance tracking.
Growthdeck says that Covid-19 has sharply accelerated the adoption of remote learning formats, which were already becoming more common in schools prior to the pandemic. A significant number of schools that had not previously embraced online learning are now implementing remote solutions as a core part of their teaching. The number of users on YFT’s platform has almost doubled from February to July 2020.
Shaz Hussain, Investment Director at Growthdeck, says: “High net worth investors should be looking for opportunities to back businesses that can meet new coronavirus-driven needs. That’s why we’re backing YFT.”
YFT has already proven popular with both traditional and non-traditional education providers, securing contracts with schools and Premier League football clubs, and it is recommended by Mumsnet, the most popular parents’ website in the UK.
As well as replacing traditional paper-based homework, YFT’s ‘gamified’ structure rewards students for taking ownership of their own progress with coin, badge and certificate collection.
YFT’s platform currently offers 50 high-quality, proprietary courses across core subjects like English language and literature, maths and sciences as well as several other subject areas. 15 further courses are currently under development by YFT’s six-strong staff of in-house qualified teachers.
Hussain adds: “Remote learning started 2020 as the smart option for forward-thinking schools. It has very quickly become an essential tool for every school.
“Not only has YFT already been adopted by a significant number of secondary schools, it has proven its worth to other organisations like football clubs. They are keen to ensure their young players get an outstanding education under unusual circumstances and YFT has a central role in that.”
