Education tech startup ParentPaperwork closes $100,000 seed funding

Education technology startup ParentPaperwork has announced it has closed a seed funding round worth upwards of $100,000.

ParentPaperwork’s platform enables the automation of paper forms in schools, reducing costs and improving liability management. Schools can create an unlimited number of customisable forms and use a combination of email and secure webpages to capture parent responses.

Co-founder Fiona Boyd wouldn’t disclose the exact amount raised but says it was “several hundred thousand dollars”. Investment came from a small group led by Melbourne investor David Broughton who will also join the company’s board.

The funds will be used to ramp up marketing and business development both in Australia and overseas.

“Since launching into schools a few months ago we’ve been extremely pleased at the positive response to ParentPaperwork’s product offering,” she says.

“We now have a great range of customers across the spectrum including independent, state and Catholic schools in Australia plus international schools in almost a dozen countries.”

Back in October ParentPaperwork had signed up 14 schools as paying customers, a number that has since increased to 25. Boyd says the startup feels like the product is validated and now it’s a matter of scaling up.

They’ll be targeting industry verticals, like international schools and Catholic schools, using evidence from customers they’ve already signed up in those verticals to pitch to similar schools, rather than targeting specific international markets. They’re in the process of negotiating a deal that could lead to ParentPaperwork technology being used in state schools in a south-east Asian country.

“We’re focusing on multiple strategies and channels,” Boyd says regarding sales.

“Our theory from past experience is do everything, but try not to spend too much money as you do it. While you work out what gives you the best uplift.”

Boyd says the funding round is perfectly timed.

“With this investment we’ll be able to launch a much enhanced marketing strategy, and continue to develop the ParentPaperwork platform. The product roadmap includes several exciting initiatives we plan to roll out in 2015 which we firmly believe will be very attractive to existing and new customers, and add significant value to the business.”

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