In just six months since launch, Bielefeld-based EdTech startup DigitalErleben has secured €1 million in pre-Seed financing for their AI platform paddy, in order to innovate the education sector in the DACH region.
The funding round was led by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF).
“I saw firsthand as a student how overwhelmed many teachers were – no time for individual support, even though the intention was there. That’s what sparked the idea for paddy,” says Matty Frommann, Co-founder and CEO of paddy.
Founded in 2024 by Matty Frommann, Lukas Portmann, and Tobias Schröder – all children of teachers – and joined later that year by CTO Lukas Kaufmann, paddy has developed an AI platform that allegedly saves teachers time throughout their day, enabling them to provide personalised support students once again. The platform assists with lesson planning, creates tailored teaching materials in various formats, offers digital tools for lesson delivery, and analyses class performance.
The frustrations of teaching were part of daily life for the paddy Founders: conversations at the breakfast table about overcrowded classes, endless grading, and the feeling of never being able to meet every student’s needs. Teachers constantly juggle between admin work, curriculum pressure, and classroom management, often without the ability to respond to individual students.
During the pandemic, the future paddy Founders organised local teacher trainings and saw firsthand how schools struggled with digital and structural challenges. In 2024, they founded DigitalErleben GmbH and launched the paddy AI platform in January 2025.
“paddy shows how we can reduce stress for teachers while helping students develop AI skills at an early stage. Beyond the impressive product, it’s the team that won me over: Despite their young age, the Founders already demonstrate remarkable entrepreneurial intuition – and I’m excited to see where the journey takes them,” says Felix Assion, Investment Manager at HTGF.
According to the German Federal Employment Agency, there are approximately two million teachers in the DACH region, spread across 40,000 schools. Yet paddy says pragmatic solutions to relieve their daily workload remain scarce. According to a study conducted by Bitkom (the German Digital Association), over 70% of educators cite overload and teacher shortages as core challenges. More than half say growing class sizes leave little time to meet individual student needs.
paddy looks to tackle precisely these repetitive tasks with AI and give teachers more time to teach. The company expects to reach a mid six-figure revenue by the end of the year.
The platform identifies topic, target group, and learning objectives. It suggests matching tasks, methods, and materials, generates differentiated content, and analyses student progress to support next steps. Teachers can gain insight into where their class stands and who may need extra support.
With over 12,000 active users (teachers) just six months post-launch, paddy is well on its way to transforming education in the DACH region through AI.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/08/developed-by-22-year-olds-for-the-classroom-of-the-future-german-ai-platform-paddy-raises-e1-million/
