[THE INVESTOR] Woongjin Thinkbig, Woongjin Group’s education and publishing unit, said on Jan. 30 it has acquired a 10 percent stake in US-based education startup Kidaptive for US$5 million.

Kidaptive, based in Silicon Valley, develops teaching programs based on big data and machine learning technologies. It was co-founded by P.J. Gunsagar, co-founder of computer animation company Prana Studios, and Dylan Arena, a learning scientist at Stanford University. The firm has attracted funds from multiple investors, including Formation 8, the US-based venture capital firm, Stanford University and Cambridge University.

 

“We will seek synergies with Kidaptive in leading the education tech industry,” Woongjin Thinkbig CEO Yoon Sae-bom said in a statement.

The two firms plan to launch a new education program on Feb. 1 that analyzes behavior of individual students and advise them on better education solutions. Woongjin provides data of 240,000 students it has collected through its own smart learning service Woongjin Bookclub, while Kidaptive offers its big data analysis technology.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)