The BOOKR Kids, Hungarian educational application receives 1 million euros investment from the state-owned VC -Hiventures Venture Capital Fund, Hungarian media reported. The application is already approved by the Digital Prosperity Program of Hungary and will be used in the elementary schools from the beginning of September this year.
According to the BOOKR CEO, Dorka Horvath, in this digital era, the aim of this app is to bring closer the books and the habit of reading to today’s children who spend so much time on screens.
Co-founder at BOOKR / Photo: BOOKR website
“Our main goal is to build a bridge between books and the digital world so that literature – besides screens – can also become a natural part of children’s lives,” says Horvath, Budapest Business Journal reports. “We gamify the books while keeping their original values; it is only the format and the platform that changes. BOOKR Kids means legal tablet time for kids since its developing effect is approved by parents, teachers and educational experts.”
With the injection from Hiventures, the company plan to further introduce their product on the international market, with a special focus on Norway and China. Also, as reported, the company will further expand and will welcome over twenty new employees to the team.
Founded in 2015 in Budapest, BOOKR Kids is the leading digital publishing company of interactive books in Central and Eastern Europe. So far this reading platform is being used in five countries throughout the world. The app offers over 200 interactive children’s books with different titles from classical to modern stories. Besides books, additional 300 educational games can be found on the platform that can be used by children as well as schools and publishers. The app can be used both on tablets and mobiles.
Thus far BOOKR Kids was recognized and awarded in so many competition. Recently was chosen the best out of 148 start-ups of 23 countries at the CEE Lift Off!, the biggest startup competition in Central and Eastern Europe, winning a 150.000 euros investment offer from Power Angels.
Hiventures Venture Capital Fund, on the other hand, was founded as Regional Fund Management in 1999 originally under the name Corvinus Venture Capital Fund Management Plc (CVCFM). In 2016 CVCFM was appointed as the State Venture Capital Fund and since operates under the name Hiventures.
With 157 million euros worth of European Union and Hungarian Development Bank Plc. (HDB) funds in hand, Hiventures became one of the biggest investor companies in East-Central Europe. This state-owned fund is professionally supervised and supported by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office and the HDB, with an ultimate aim to invest in and support pre-seed, seed and growth stage companies through their venture capital programs.