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Raspberry Pi laptop builder and cloud textbook platform share £3.5m investment

A pair of hotly tipped EdTech startups are celebrating significant seven-figure investment from investment firm Committed Capital as both businesses look to scale up.

Both pi-top and Kortext have received multi-million pound investments from the London-based investment business, which manages a EIS fund investment service, in Committed Capital’s first investments of 2017.

London’s pi-top, which has received £1.25m, provides code training programmes to students through its self-build computers and laptops powered by Raspberry Pi, the barebones, low-cost UK computer. The investment comes just weeks after the business was awarded startup of the year at the prestigious BETT tradeshow.

Meanwhile, Bournemouth-based Kortext, which has raised £2.25m, provides digital textbooks to students and educational institutions through its cloud-based platform, and is already working with over 80 of the UK’s biggest universities.

Commenting on the latest investments, Committed Capital Chief Executive Officer, Steve Harris, said EIS investments were of ‘fundamental importance’ to early stage companies such as pi-top and Kortext.

Introduced by the government in 2012, the Enterprise Investment Scheme aims to encourage investors in smaller, higher risk firms by giving investors favourable tax relief and exemptions.

Harris commented: “Our most recent investments in pi-top and Kortext add to our portfolio of successful EIS investments in growing UK tech companies and are an endorsement of the lucrative and rapidly expanding EdTech sector, which is set to have a profound impact on the way we learn and develop new skills.”

“EIS investment is of fundamental importance to companies such as Kortext and pi-top, that are looking to scale-up and take their businesses to the next level.”