How a School Project Revolutionized Education
The app Sdui began as a school project by three students in 2015; now the mobile communication solution for schools is used by more than 2,500 schools in Germany.
Daniel Zacharias, Jan Micha Kroll and Timo Stosius had barely finished high school when they became start-up founders. As students near Koblenz in southwest Germany, the three were always bothered by the fact that information did not reach them or their peers quickly and directly.
“You struggle out of bed in the morning, drive to school and then the first two lessons are cancelled. It has to be possible to communicate that directly,” says founder Daniel Zacharias.
Their app Sdui began as a school project in 2015; now the mobile communication solution for schools is used by more than 2,500 schools in Germany.
Secure School Communication
Sdui allows teachers, students and parents to exchange information in a data-secure manner such as through direct messaging or notifications. The app functions without a personal email address or phone number. Moreover, Sdui is a wholistic digital classroom solution that allows class scheduling, creating lesson plans and teaching by video conference. The app is sold as a three-year subscription and costs schools an average of €2.49 per student.
Due to pandemic school closures, Sdui has seen a massive influx in inquiries, causing them to consistently expand server capacity and improve functionality. The team that began as three classmates now includes forty employees.
High Hopes for Sdui
Sdui has high projections for 2021. In early 2020, the company recently extended its seed financing to €2 million. Backers included High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), business angels Martin Ostermayer and Dirk Freise as well as Udo Schloemer, founder and CEO of Factory Berlin.
“The last months revealed the need for fast and feasible solutions when it comes to the digitalization of schools which before hasn’t been on the agenda for too long” says Daniel Zacharias. An additional challenge for innovation in education is the fragmented, state-based oversight of education in Germany. Accordingly, educational solutions have been mostly piecemeal. A digital education platform born of a need identified by students, Sdui seems to be the exception.
Check out the app for yourself at: sdui.de/en/