British exam prep app raises £1.2m from the crowd and investors

Gojimo, the exam preparation app (owned by the company of the same name) has secured an additional £1.2m in funding from high profile investors, venture funds, and the CrowdBnk platform. On CrowdBnk, Gojimo smashed its £500,000 target, raising £1,115,411 in exchange for a 9.09% equity stake. Launched in 2014, the app provides over 180,000 quiz questions for all major GCSE and A Level subjects, the 11+, 13+, and the International Baccalaureate, with full explanations for each and enables users to track their progress over time. It claims that more than 300,000 students used the app in May 2015, accounting for 20% of all GCSE and A Level students. The funding will be used to fuel the company’s growth over the next 12 months, as it prepares for a Series A round, and development of a social and competitive feature.

GOJIMO has raised a $1.8 million round of funding from a mixture of private investors and crowdfunding. Investors included Robin and Saul Klein, Deborah Quazzo of GSV Advisors, the London Co-Investment Fund and Firestar; the crowdfunding came from a campaign on the platform CrowdBnk. Previous investors Index Ventures and Jamjar Investments also participated. The London-based company makes a free app that provides review questions and progress tracking for British students taking any of several exams: A Levels, the General Certificate of Secondary Education, Common Entrance Exams and International Baccalaureate tests.

Founded in 2009, Gojimo claims 300,000 users in the UK and plans to double its staff to 12 with the funding. Founder George Burgess also recently won Young Entrepreneur of the Year from the Great British Entrepreneur Awards and Digital Achiever of the Year from Futurebook 2015.