Shannon Picardo (TBS 2014) revolutionises tutoring

As more and more schools are employing the use of smartphones and tablets that distract students, SchoolMouv is betting that they can be used to raise their grades. This young start-up from Toulouse offers an online tutoring platform which offers student’s a thousand video lessons and has more than 5,000 educational content written by professors.

SchoolMouv covers all major subjects from the sixth grade to the final year. According to its founder, Shannon Picardo, the results are on target. "Students grades increase an average of 2.6 points," says the 25-year-old entrepreneur, whose idea for the start-came to him in 2011 when he passed the bac exams. Unable to afford private lessons, he unsuccessfully looked for a reliable educational support site. He ended up stumbling upon a video posted on the YouTube channel of a retired history-geography teacher, which gave him the idea of creating his website.

After passing the bac, Shannon enrolled in Toulouse Business School and took part in its Seed incubator. "Business schools often have their own incubator. Toulouse Business School allowed us to work on our projects at the same time as our studies,” he said. After eighteen months of thinking about creating filmed courses, he launched his company in 2013. "Video is the most used format on the Web amongst 11 to 18-year olds,” he exampled.  It has a direct impact on visual and auditory memory." These arguments persuaded investors - he just completed a fundraising campaign and raised 2.5 million euros. SchoolMouv’s team, which already has thirty people and a hundred National Education teachers, is expected to grow this year.