The Icelandic start-up company Beedle creates a learning system that is accessible through Microsoft Teams, but with the system, teachers can handle all aspects of teaching through Teams, upload study materials, register attendance and guide students. Over 200 million users use Microsoft school solutions worldwide, and Beelde has users in over 80 countries, but the company was recently selected as one of the 200 most promising educational institutions in the world.

“I was working for another educational technology company and got the idea to develop a learning system in line with modern times. I wanted to find out how we could work more with Microsoft and make the solution accessible all over the world and scalable, “says Guðmundur Axelsson, Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Beedle. Previously, Guðmundur worked as a Development Team Leader at Microsoft, first from Seattle and later from Reykjavík, Iceland.

Guðmundur and the Beedle team attended the Bett Show conference in London, which is the largest conference in the world for educational technology, and showed the study system to a group of investors and companies. The solution was successful and was one of the most popular at the conference. Microsoft attended the conference and showed great interest in Beedle, after which the ball began to roll. Investors began to show increased interest in the company and the team gradually expanded, says Guðmundur.

The epidemic accelerated the development

Guðmundur says that the epidemic has encouraged individuals and companies to develop solutions for distance learning. “Our solution is an addition to Microsoft Teams. Schools that use Teams in teaching use it for lectures, but what we bring to the table is everything else that comes with the teaching, for example grading and attendance”. Guðmundur points out that by using Beedle as a addon to Teams, teachers can use the same system in teaching, all day and throughout the semester, both for distance learning or local teaching.

Guðmundur says the company is at a turning point. “Up to now, the main focus of our excellent team has been the development of the product, but now we are also busy with global marketing in key market areas. We are also adding staff to the development team in Iceland. “

One of the 200 most promising educational institutions in the world

Beedle was recently named one of the 200 most promising start-ups in the world of education and is competing for $ 1 million in prize money in San Diego, California in early April. Companies selected in the group are considered to be the most respected start-ups in the field of digital education at all levels of the education system. Beedle also won a place in the semi-finals of The GSV Cup, the largest elevator pitch competition in the world for educational technology companies.

Guðmundur says that Beedle’s focus has always been on the primary school level, but the company has many teachers working on the design of the study system. “Although Beedle is designed with primary education in mind, we have users at all levels and nothing that stops high schools and universities from using the solution.” He says the Beedle learning system is unique in that it is designed as a pure complement to Teams. ” We build on that foundation and Microsoft handles key security, logon and data hosting issues, so we avoid large start-up costs and can focus on developing solutions for modern teaching, all within Teams.”

This article was originally published on Viðskiptablaðið, Iceland’s leading Business centered news outlet, in Icelandic here.