financing

Investment companies will prevent school failure when they invest millions in Ludenso.

Ludenso raised NOK 10 million in a financing round led by Ferd, the investment firm of the billionaire Johan H. Andresen family.

Existing shareholders such as Kahoot founders Johan Brand and Jamie Brooker also filled in. So are several angel investors, including Attensi co-founders Anne Lise Waal, ystein Skiri, Sverre Munck, Vineet Sharma, and Sagene Tech Ventures.

Ferd contributed, in purely practical terms through Ferd Sociale Entrepreneur, with a convertible loan of five million kroner. The same portfolio includes companies such as No Isolation and Motitech.

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The investment company that Fred received according to E24 last year’s record results and earned over seven billion kroner. The equity in Ferd thus grew to NOK 48 billion.

– We’re excited to help challenge the status quo of how today’s students acquire knowledge, together with the impact-driven team at Ludenso. We look forward to following their journey to equalize learning opportunities by meeting learning needs with AR, said Morten Borge, CEO of Ferd.

Ludenso, among others, in collaboration with Aschehoug, developed an AR platform that makes it possible to enrich physical textbooks. This involves making it interactive with 3D models, videos, podcasts, and links that come to life on the screen.

– At the top of the hill

Behind the company are founders Eirik Wahlstrm, Harald Manheim and Ingrid Skrede.

This year, the trio went from having just one customer “and hanging around Norway” to starting at least 30 international dialogues. The founders are now working with American SAGE Publications, one of the world’s largest publishers, to enrich specialist books for nurses with AR.

“It took a long time to get the deal, but it has great potential, and we can quickly reach the rest of the world, because they distribute the books everywhere,” Wahlstrm said in August.

That same month, Ludenso launched an AR solution in English classrooms, in collaboration with PG Online. In parallel, the company made a “star signing” with Matthew Jones.

He took London-based edtech company Perlego from 0 to 3,000 publishers and will now do the same with Ludenso.

– It felt like we had been walking downhill for a long time, and that we were now at the top of the hill and could breathe a little before we went any further, Skrede told Shifter in August.

Must prevent dropping out of school

The founders also point out that technology can engage students and students who normally struggle to read traditional materials; a theme involving Ferd.

– Dropping out is something that Ferd Sociale Entrepreneur has been working on over the years, and working with several social entrepreneurs with different approaches, says Trym Andreas Nagelstad, business developer at FSE, at Fred’s flat – and added:

– We now believe that it is important to challenge the school system about how students learn. We see Ludenso as a company with great potential to develop knowledge materials in new ways that enable students with different abilities, prerequisites, challenges and needs to learn in a way that is best suited to the individual, says Nagelstad.

According to the founders, the new capital city will be used to scale the solution in Europe and the UK.

– It’s been too long, educational content is outdated and less interesting. Despite outstanding innovation elsewhere, academia can often feel like an afterthought, says investor Johan Brand.

– When I was introduced to Ludenso, I knew I had to get involved. The team is doing something very special and creating real educational value for teachers and students, he said.