Investment Notes: Inquisitive

Jelix is proud to back Inquisitive, the EdTech software company revolutionising primary school education by streamlining lesson planning with high-quality, curriculum-aligned, and interactive learning resources for teachers.

In December 2024, Jelix Fund 1 participated in Inquistive’s AUD $6.5 million Series A extension round led by Premier Capital Partners. This round marks the third follow-on investment Jelix Ventures has made into Inquisitive, having begun our relationship through the Jelix syndicate during their Seed round in 2018. The next phase for Inquisitive will focus on expanding its reach within the US market in order to further its mission to simplify access to quality learning, so teachers enjoy teaching and students learn with purpose and depth.

Why Jelix is excited to back Inquisitive

Addressing a critical market need in education

Inquisitive addresses a critical pain point in education: primary school teachers spend approximately 300 hours annually preparing lessons. Across the U.S. and Australia, this represents over 557 million hours of duplicated effort. As a result, teachers report insufficient time for high-quality lesson planning, leading to lower teacher satisfaction and compromised student outcomes. 

To address this, the Inquisitive product is now used in the majority of Australian schools, with 100% penetration in NSW government schools. Revenue has grown slowly and steadily at c. 25% YoY. The team will now turn its focus to US expansion and new product features. There are early signs of promise with Inquisitive having secured customers in 49 of the states, though considerable effort is needed to increase its presence across the country. 

High conviction in proven founder, Tim Power

Having known Co-founder and current CEO TIm Power for some time now, Jelix has a very high conviction in his ability to lead and scale edtech businesses. The Jelix syndicate has invested in both previous Inquisitive funding rounds and Jelix Investment Partner, Ian Gardiner is a current board member of Inquisitive. Tim founded Inquisitive after a very successful career in edtech businesses including Mathletics and Reading Eggs, under 3P Learning which IPO’d for c.$350m AUD, the World Education Games, World Maths Day and ClickView. Tim has also managed to build a very strong leadership team around him.

Differentiated product

Inquisitive provides a robust, research-driven solution for K-6 lesson planning, covering all core subjects. Its unique features include:

• Multilingual Support: Enhancing inclusivity in classrooms with non-native speakers.

• Interactive Tools: Browser-based multimodal resources (e.g., videos, eBooks, audio).

• Differentiated Content: Allows teachers to tailor lessons to diverse student needs.

• Scalability: Lessons are printable and compatible across devices, ensuring flexibility.

Inquisitive instructed an Independent evaluation of its product in 2023, which stated that Inquisitive saves teachers 12 days annually, improves lesson quality, and boosts teacher well-being.

Huge global primary education market 

With 1.8 million primary school teachers in the U.S. and Australia, and a projected ARPU of $350, the addressable market in the US & Australia alone exceeds $630 million annually. Even modest penetration could yield $50 million in ARR. In addition, the company's product-led growth model is well-suited for scalable international expansion, leveraging SEO and teacher referrals. However, it is worth highlighting that Inquisitive has achieved minimal traction in the US so far and that further penetration may require greater localization efforts and marketing investment, as well as their being competition from entrenched players like Mystery Science. 

Inquisitive presents a compelling investment opportunity. The company’s strong leadership team, proven traction in Australia, differentiated product offering, and significant market potential position it well for growth. While challenges and uncertainties exist, particularly in scaling the U.S. market and executing ambitious growth projections, we believe the upside potential far outweighs the risks.