British AI edtech startup, founded by female barrister-turned-entrepreneur, just raised $6.5M

Demand for cutting-edge education technology has soared during the pandemic while education has gone online. Among the companies that have mushroomed in this scenario is London-based AI edtech startup CENTURY Tech, which builds AI technologies to improve education and transform learning in schools worldwide. The company just secured $6.5 million (nearly £4.7 million) in funding.

Two-thirds of the investment in the oversubscribed round came from new investors, including MIT Solve’s philanthropic venture fund Solve Innovation Future. CENTURY Tech will use the investment to scale its AI-powered learning technologies to more schools across the world, following an acceleration in the adoption of technology in education. The company will also ramp up its efforts to expand its backend AI technologies to publishers and other content owners globally.

Priya Lakhani OBE, Founder CEO of CENTURY Tech, said: “The pandemic accelerated the pace of innovation in education – fast-forwarding the use of technology in learning by years in just the space of a few months. Advanced technologies like AI are here to stay – in the classroom, for homework, to aid with marking and planning, and generally to make the processes of teaching and learning far more effective. We are looking forward to being able to help more schools than ever before to realise the power of AI to transform education for the better.”

Susan Nesbitt, Head of the Global Innovators Community at the World Economic Forum, said: “We’re excited to welcome CENTURY Tech to our 2021 cohort of Technology Pioneers. CENTURY Tech and its fellow pioneers are developing technologies that can help society solve some of its most pressing issues. We look forward to their contribution to the World Economic Forum in its commitment to improving the state of the world.”

Casey van der Stricht, Principal of Solve Innovation Future, MIT Solve’s philanthropic venture fund, said: “CENTURY Tech is working to ensure that anyone, anywhere, at any level realises their ultimate learning potential. Priya and her team are rightfully focused on scalability of the AI learning platform model, especially given the increased demand for virtual learning technology—and at Solve, we are equally excited about how this tool can customise learning to support all students.”

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