Busy days in terms of funding announcements around The Next Web Conference in Amsterdam. WizeNoze, a Dutch startup that curates age-appropriate and understandable content for children, has announced it has just closed a funding round of €1.3M to fuel its entry to the UK market. The Amsterdam-based startup aims to make online information accessible and meaningful for children, teenagers, people with lower literacy skills and second language learners.
Dutch government
The cash injection brings the total amount raised by the company to €3.1M. The biggest contributor in the latest round was the Dutch government with a loan from its Innovation Credit fund, with the remainder made up by informal investors. WizeNoze will use this funding to launch a new safe search solution for children in the UK. In announcing the move, Diane Janknegt,
Push Wizenoze in UK market
In announcing the move, Diane Janknegt, founder and CEO of WizeNoze, states: “This will help hugely with our push into the UK schools market. We think there is a real need to create a new method for safeguarded internet search. That’s why we have built a vast repository of curated content so that children’s online work will not be disturbed or distracted by commercial messages, or worse, by inappropriate or disturbing content”.
Age-relevant content
Based in Amsterdam, WizeNoze aims to make information on the internet easier to find and understand for children, by building technology which curates and delivers reliable, appropriate and age-relevant content at a child’s specific reading level. Currently, more than 80% of the Dutch primary schools have access to WizeNoze’s technology. The company has also recently announced a partnership with the London Grid for Learning (LGfL) for a white label search solution for schools.
