Wonder Workshop, which makes robots that teach children computer science concepts, said it has raised $41 million in a Series C round.
The funding round includes global tech giants like Tencent and Softbank Korea, as well as Seattle venture capital firm Madrona Venture Group, among several others. In a press release, Wonder Workshop said it would use the funds to expand its software platform, while pushing deeper into the consumer market and investing in its bread-and-butter area of selling to schools.
“Today’s children already have the most important traits for tomorrow’s economy: budding, curious minds. But we owe them access to tools that will unlock their incredible capacity for invention and exploration,” Vikas Gupta, CEO and co-founder of Wonder Workshop said in a statement. “We founded Wonder Workshop to provide all children — girls and boys of all ages — with the skills needed to succeed in the future economy.”
The San Mateo, Calif.-based startup was founded in 2012, and it sells robots that sync with a mobile app and help children understand basic computer science concepts. It has 12,000 schools around the world using its product.
The new funding comes on the heels of the September release of Wonder Workshop’s newest robot Cue. The interactive robot can chat and text and provides coding-oriented games and challenges.
Gupta previously sold his last company, Social Gold, to Google in 2010. Before that, he spent seven years at Amazon working directly with Jeff Bezos and helping to establish the Amazon India development center.
