Our Sumdog Story
Over ten years ago, on a visit to a secondary school in Scotland, our founder Andrew Hall met a student struggling with basic numeracy skills.
From this meeting, he was inspired to create an inclusive platform so that students of all ages, abilities and backgrounds could have somewhere to practise and improve their maths skills without feeling like it was something they just weren't good at.
This platform has evolved into the much-loved Sumdog that schools and families worldwide are using today. Read on to hear about some of the highlights in our journey.
Our Timeline
2010: Sumdog is born
At Sumdog HQ in Edinburgh, Andrew Hall launches the first iteration of the Sumdog we know today as a way to engage students in maths learning through gamification.
2014: 1 million users
Sumdog reaches one million users worldwide.
2016: Full curriculum coverage
The platform now offers complete primary maths curriculum coverage across the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
2018: Sumdog Spelling
Sumdog Spelling is released using human voice recordings and covering essential spelling skills, key sounds, rules, patterns, and vocabulary.
2019: Proven impact
An independent study conducted in Glasgow, UK shows that using Sumdog for 30 minutes a week almost doubles a child's fluency progress.
2022: Joining Albert
Sumdog joins the eEducation Albert EdTech group based in Göteborg, Sweden.
2022: 3D avatar and house launch
Our 3D avatar and house is launched, offering a greater choice of inclusive personalisation to help more children feel represented on Sumdog.
2023: Cyber Essentials certification
Sumdog becomes Cyber Essentials certified in our ongoing efforts to provide a safe and secure platform for all users.
2024: New leadership
Jonas Mårtensson joins Sumdog as CEO.
Get to know Sumdog
Q1. How old is Sumdog?
Q2. What age level is Sumdog for?
Sumdog offers maths and spelling practice for children aged 5-14 years old with a range of exciting games catering to all types of learners.
Q3. What's it like for pupils?
On Sumdog, pupils are kept entertained while they learn, with multiple-choice questions seamlessly integrated into fun games.
With personalised avatars and exciting virtual rewards, children are motivated to improve their skills and become more confident learners.
Q4. What's it like for teachers?
You can set practice to be completed during gameplay, or use our low-stakes tests to assess children in the familiar environment of Sumdog.
Thanks to Sumdog's reports, you can view results in real-time with an easy-to-interpret class overview. You can see which questions pupils answered correctly and who might need a little extra practice. Sumdog helps you to quickly and easily identify gaps and demonstrate pupil progress.
Q5. Has Sumdog been proven to boost fluency?
The findings of our recent independent impact study revealed that the progress made by regular Sumdog users (30 minutes or more a week) was almost double that of non-regular users giving them a 6-month advantage over their peers.