The company Gaptain has worked under this premise, a company with social impact whose objective is to educate schools and families in the education and accompaniment of minors in the digital environment. In this way, Roberto Álvarez Angulo, founder of Gaptain, together with a team of five partners committed to the education and protection of minors against the risks of the Internet, social networks and mobile phones, launched the Segureskola program.
Segureskola uses the Kids Centric methodology to carry out an initial diagnosis in the classroom using VideoGames and, based on the risks identified in the digital activity and student relations, to personalize the Teaching Unit: “Prevention and Digital Competence” which is taken across the board to teachers, students and their own families.
In addition, Segureskola is complemented by a cyber-security audit of the connected environment of the center, technology for the supervision of coexistence and measurement of the impact of the program, and the accreditation of the Cybersecurity School, which differentiates centers that are strongly committed to cyber-security, digital education and equality.
The annual program is complemented by two channels of free resources for educators and families in which experts and universities collaborate to help them reach the centers and already have more than 1500 new users a day:
Founded in 2017, the name Gaptain comes from the play on words “Gap” and “In”, as the company’s focus is on the digital divide, and the term “Captain”, as it aims to bring together several institutions, experts, universities and companies in a single team to design a comprehensive and effective solution to a complex problem such as this, the digital divide between different generations.
So far, the portfolio of awards that the EdTech has received ranges from the BBK Phylanthropy program, where it was the winner of the event in which about 100 applicants participated; to the Edtech SEKLab Awards (where it also reached the podium of the winners), through BKenpresariak Innovation and Talent, the economic development program of Barakaldo; and finally, the Impact Business accreditation, awarded by the Ship2B Foundation. All this shows the comprehensive and personalized nature of the solution designed by the company, as well as the possibility of measuring the impact it generates. Undoubtedly, two of the aspects that differentiate Gaptain within the EdTech sector.
According to the company’s founder, Roberto Álvarez“Segureskola personalizes the intervention program according to the risks identified in the classroom during an initial diagnosis. In addition, thanks to the Segureskola accreditation, we differentiate the cyber-insurance educational centers committed to education and digital coexistence so that families can evaluate it”.
BUSINESS MODEL
The business model with which Gaptain has been built is based on the agreements it has with education partners, which it nourishes with the methodology developed, the teaching content and the technology of the Segureskola tool. Along with this, “we market the annual program for educational centers and, in addition, foundations committed to children, such as the BBK social project, have bought the license to implement the program in five educational centers” explained Álvarez.
Beyond this, various regional education councils have shown interest in the tools developed by Gaptain, and so it is currently collaborating and planning the first pilots for public schools. “Segureskola is being implemented in several educational centers of reference in the Basque Country, such as Lauaxeta, and will soon begin in Madrid in the SEK schools. El Castillo will be the first Segureskola center in Madrid”, states the founder.
INVESTMENTS
So far, Gaptain’s partners have invested €90,000. They also received about €37,000 in non-refundable prizes from the BBK Phylanthropy program; and finally, about €9,000 from the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and SPRI (Basque Government). As far as the funding rounds are concerned, Gaptain has stuck to a single capital increase with which it reached €47,000. According to Álvarez, “without a doubt this strategy of zero expenditure has allowed us to cross the valley of death until almost 3 years later we started getting regular income”.
Gaptain expects to close a 450k investment round at the end of the year in which there are already impact investors and interested EdTech.
“This round should inject the capital needed to automate the manual processes of the Kids Centric methodology, and size the team needed to start the massive scale of Segureskola”.
The company’s objective in the short term is to replicate in Madrid the model validated in Bizkaia, and from there begin the national expansion. At that stage, the company would then design the national and international scale through the franchise business model and its network of implementers.