UK-based education service MEL Science announced today the completion of its Series A funding round with Sistema VC injecting $2.5 million in the company.
MEL Science claims that its subscription service, which features nearly 40 interactive chemistry sets, is “changing science education” by “incorporating for the first time the virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) into a single lesson.”
For just $49 a month, MEL Science subscribers receive two new hands-on, safe chemistry sets each month, and can use them to make experiments using a mobile app. Kids, parents and science lovers can thus enjoy 3D graphics, macro photos and videos of molecules up-close in relation with their chemical experiments.
“First you touch the science physically with your hands, then you can look inside and see the processes at the molecular level,” Vassili Philippov, founder of MEL Science, explained. “This combination of practical training and virtual reality is the ideal form of learning. It helps you not just memorize but actually understand the essence of the event.”
MEL Science claims to have been, last year, the world’s only chemical set to receive the recommendations of journal Science.
The company will use Sistema’s funds to develop further its VR component, launch new products in the areas of physics and biology, and expand its team.
Combining UK and Russian resources
Established in 2014, MEL Science currently serves the US, UK and Russian markets from its London office and its R&D center in St. Petersburg.
“We chose the UK as HQ because it is a country with the world’s strongest educational traditions and the best specialists in this field, while we chose Russia for R&D center because they have strong scientists and developers,” said Philippov.
Philippov, Ph.D in Physics & Mathematics, is a Russian born entrepreneur who previously sold his company SBP Software to Yandex.
Sistema VC was launched in April this year by AFK Sistema, a Russian LSE-listed conglomerate. The fund raised no less than 10 billion rubles (approximately $159 million at the current exchange rate) to invest in internationally-oriented early-stage startups, mainly from Russia and neighboring countries. The fund’s shareholders – apart from AFK Sistema – have remained unnamed.
The fund’s latest investment, which was announced just days ago, went to Luden.io, a Moscow-based developer of VR and AR games.
