EasyPeasy Parenting - launching a SaaS social enterprise model to narrow the gap in Early Child Development
Lead Participant:
CHARACTER COUNTS LTD
Abstract
EasyPeasy is a proven child development platform that offers parents activities and guidance to turn everyday parenting stresses into opportunities for playful learning. The coronavirus pandemic caused a period of exponential growth on our platform as over 15,000 UK parents sought out our app to help with home-schooling their children, and traditional early years providers reached out to us for support in making the transition to digital and blended learning. With the support of the Innovate UK 'Business led response' fund (Apr-Jun), we were able to provide free access for all parents to the platform during this time, and work with brand partners to generate bespoke content for families (incl Scouts, National Childbirth Trust, LEGO).
We know that the impact of COVID-19 has been to increase inequalities in society. There is a need for ongoing support for families who may not have the skills or access to resources, to help give their young children the developmental play that will benefit them in the early years. Whilst providing free access to our platform allowed us to respond to need and mitigate growing inequalities, we must also consider our sustainability and growth as a business.
A niche market for early child development and parenting apps, within which EasyPeasy has had a first mover advantage, is enjoying a significant uptake in interest and investment globally as a result of COVID-19\. As capital flows into the digital home learning space, we want to ensure that we can continue to play a lead role in meeting demand, whilst ensuring access and support to those the market does not automatically serve. Our vision is to combine purpose and profit, supporting a fair recovery from COVID-19 for all children, whilst building on the UK's position as a market leader in edtech within our early years home learning space.
In this project, we will implement a sustainability strategy to bring the app to a new audience of affluent families with propensity to pay a monthly subscription, who will in turn subsidise ongoing free access to disadvantaged families through our 'Plus One' model.
We know that the impact of COVID-19 has been to increase inequalities in society. There is a need for ongoing support for families who may not have the skills or access to resources, to help give their young children the developmental play that will benefit them in the early years. Whilst providing free access to our platform allowed us to respond to need and mitigate growing inequalities, we must also consider our sustainability and growth as a business.
A niche market for early child development and parenting apps, within which EasyPeasy has had a first mover advantage, is enjoying a significant uptake in interest and investment globally as a result of COVID-19\. As capital flows into the digital home learning space, we want to ensure that we can continue to play a lead role in meeting demand, whilst ensuring access and support to those the market does not automatically serve. Our vision is to combine purpose and profit, supporting a fair recovery from COVID-19 for all children, whilst building on the UK's position as a market leader in edtech within our early years home learning space.
In this project, we will implement a sustainability strategy to bring the app to a new audience of affluent families with propensity to pay a monthly subscription, who will in turn subsidise ongoing free access to disadvantaged families through our 'Plus One' model.
Lead Participant | Project Cost | Grant Offer |
|---|---|---|
| CHARACTER COUNTS LTD | £218,380 | £ 174,704 |
Participant |
||
| INNOVATE UK |
People |
ORCID iD |
| Jen Lexmond (Project Manager) |