Halifax edtech company Shoelace Learning, which specializes in the gamification of learning, has announced the $3 million first close of its seed round, which it hopes will soon reach $4.5 million.

The company plans to use the money to add three more educational games to its platform and attract 10 million new users over the next 24 months.

The round was led by first-time investor Sandpiper Ventures, the Atlantic Canadian VC fund in which female investors back female founders. The other new investors in ShoeLace are: Vancouver-based Telus Pollinator Fund for Good; San Francisco-based Reaction; Silicon Valley-based Samsung Next; and The51, a Calgary-based group that supports female entrepreneurs. The round included returning investors Concrete Ventures of Halifax, and Enjoy the Work, a San Francisco group that advises startup founders, often backing their ventures.

“Shoelace is the epitome of a purpose-driven company that presents a tremendous opportunity with its solution to modern learning needs,” said Sandpiper Co-founder and Managing Partner Rhiannon Davies in a statement. “This is innovation at its finest, and we are very pleased to come in as lead investor and join forces with our other investors and the Shoelace team as they bring this incredible resource to players and educators.”

Led by CEO Julia Rivard Dexter, ShoeLace now serves over 5 million players in 160 countries through its Dreamscape game, which helps children in Grades 2 to 8 to learn to read. Dreamscape operates on the Shoelace platform, and the company eventually wants to add other companies’ games to the platform so it becomes the industry standard for educators and parents wanting children to learn through educational games.

Shoelace plans to release its second game, PetVet, this year and two other in-house games before 2025 before opening up its platform to other game providers.

In an interview on Tuesday, Rivard Dexter said the company is now adding “hundreds of thousands of users a month” and wants to accelerate that pace, adding 10 million in two years. Shoelace has just hired two employees to bring its headcount to 17, and will continue to add staff to accommodate this growth.

“The key thing is that it’s really disciplined growth . . . so that we can grow sustainably and not just rely on the venture capitalists,” said Rivard Dexter.

Shoelace’s revenue has been growing strongly and she wants to continue to ramp up sales. The goal is to secure a Series A round in the future but she acknowledged the environment for raising capital is getting more challenging.

Rivard noted that members of the investor group should help the company increase its growth and attract users. The Telus fund backs social ventures, and Reaction is backed by 200 Stanford University Alumni with the aim of helping 1 billion people.

The51 is making its investment through Innovate Calgary, and will work with Shoelace in conducting all-important efficacy studies at the University of Calgary, which will help to validate the product with educators.

“Shoelace Learning is one of the companies at the forefront of leveraging technology to enhance learning, improving access to better reading and literacy outcomes,” said Pollinator Fund Managing Partner Blair Miller. “This is a core pillar of our investment thesis at the Pollinator Fund, to create more inclusive communities through education.”