Legends of Learning, currently used by nearly ten million students and teachers across the United States, will use the investment to expand its reach of its school-led and direct-to-consumer games
Washington, D.C., March 2, 2022, 10AM ET – Legends of Learning, Inc., creator of the nation’s leading educational game platform for K-12 students, today announces its oversubscribed $5 million Series Seed round led by Konvoy Ventures, a venture capital fund dedicated to the games industry and known for its investments in video game infrastructure, technology, tools, and platforms. The company will use the investment to scale its sales, engineering, and game development teams.
Angel investors also participating in the round include James Park (Co-founder and CEO of Fitbit), Holly Liu (Co-founder at Kabam and former Visiting Partner at Y Combinator), Jeremy Liew (Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners), and Kun Gao (Co-founder and Founding CEO of Crunchyroll).
Legends of Learning launched in 2017 as a solution to better engage students with academically rigorous coursework. Based on studies conducted by Vanderbilt University researching the efficacy of a game-based learning approach in schools, the research shows that students learn better through experience and play. Legends of Learning offers over 2,000 unique curriculum-aligned math and science video games for students in kindergarten through the eighth grade, covering subjects from basic multiplication and the solar system, to cybersecurity and artificial selection.
With over 5% of all elementary and middle school students in the United States using Legends of Learning each month as part of their regular classroom instruction, these games engage and challenge students academically, leading to increased test scores, enhanced critical thinking skills, and improved self-confidence–both in the classroom and real world.
This rapid growth has come as a result of Legends of Learning’s unique games marketplace, with over 500 studios building innovative games and constantly responding to feedback from students and teachers. For the first time in K-12 education the learning content is dynamic, and improves over time. Games rated highly by teachers and students rise to the top and get paid more, while lower-rated games are removed and replaced.
This vast array of dynamic content is built inside of the Legends of Learning: Awakening metagame, mirroring the rise of the Metaverse. Within Awakening, students customize their avatar before exploring an interactive town where they interact with classmates and collect Beasties in a safe multiplayer learning world. As students battle their Beasties with others, they progress through their school-district-aligned curriculum and engage with the marketplace of learning games. Parents are able to monitor their children’s coursework and progress as students engage with math and science like never before.
“We’re proud that millions of students across the nation use Legends of Learning every year, both in school and at home,” Dr. Vadim Polikov, Legends of Learning co-founder and CEO said. “Unlike traditional textbooks or videos, students don’t use Legends of Learning because they have to, they use it because they want to. They love the challenging fun that Legends provides…and their teachers and parents also love knowing the students are engaging with the material like never before. Establishing and growing a child’s love for learning is foundational to everything that we do and this partnership with Konvoy Ventures means that we can further our goals: to have more students learn successfully through experience and play.”
“The education system has evolved too slowly over the years, especially in regards to a move towards a more digitally-native experience. With this transition, the integration of games into the curriculum allows for a dynamic and more equitable experience that we believe shines a light on what the future of education will look like. This is why we are thrilled to invest and join Legends of Learning for the journey ahead,“ said Josh Chapman, Managing Partner of Konvoy Ventures.
“Learning doesn’t stop when students graduate and learning isn’t limited to the traditional academic topics,” Polikov adds. “One day anyone who wants to learn anything through experience and play will be able to come to Legends of Learning to find an immersive world of game-based learning built by millions of game creators around the world. We want to be the Learning corner of the unfolding Metaverse.” It is with this mindset that Legends of Learning believes that the future of learning for the company means a wide expansion of content areas to more diverse topics and diverse groups of people.
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About Legends of Learning, Inc.
Legends of Learning is the nation’s leading educational game-based learning platform for K-12 students. Utilizing over 2,000 instructional and assessment video games, students not only learn rigorous, curriculum-aligned content through play, they’re engaged with their own progress as their subject mastery and love of learning increases. Research-backed, Legends of Learning has shown to improve learning outcomes across all learners, with outsized gains among struggling learners. Legends of Learning is used by nearly ten million teachers and students across the country. Learn more at legendsoflearning.com.
About Konvoy Ventures
Konvoy Ventures is a Denver based early-stage venture capital firm dedicated to the gaming industry. The firm invests in platforms and technologies of tomorrow’s video gaming industry.
