He invented the digital math homework-helper he would have liked to have when he was in school. “Mathleaks aims to make math easier and studying smarter, using innovative digital technology,” says Jesper Mårtensson, co-founder of Swedish EdTech-company Mathleaks.
“Mathleaks aims to make math easier and studying smarter, using innovative digital technology,” says Jesper Mårtensson, co-founder of Swedish EdTech-company Mathleaks.
Uninspiring, boring, and unengaging. This is how Mårtensson describes his experience of studying math at school.
“School destroyed me more than it helped me,” Mårtensson reflects. “I easily lost interest and didn’t feel that the lessons were giving me enough.”
After getting through primary and secondary school, Mårtensson started studying IT and computer science at university. But he found it hard to let go of the idea of how many students felt the same way in elementary and secondary school. It was especially the math classes that rubbed him the wrong way and the question: How many people lost confidence like him when they got stuck in a math problem? Mårtensson felt that there must be a better way to learn math. A way that was more engaging and personalized for the students.
“We often get students who contact us and tell us that, for example, they have dared to apply to medical school thanks to Mathleaks.”
Mårtensson started discussing his idea with a fellow university student, Viktor Westberg. Neither of them had run a business before, nor created any digital teaching materials. But they loved technology and innovation and felt it was time to bring math education into a digital classroom.
A digital tutor in your pocket
“We wanted to make math easier to understand and find a more convenient way to practice the subject, even outside of school. What if math problems from textbooks could be answered digitally yet still pedagogically as if the explanations were coming from the best tutors? How much more accessible they would be.”
“We created a solution model based on clear and pedagogical explanations, with very little text and lots of pictures.”
Together they founded Mathleaks – a digital math homework helper that would change the way students learn and practice math – and help them perform better.
“We created a solution model based on clear and pedagogical explanations, with very little text and a lot of images,” says Mårtensson.
The duo continued to fine-tune their digital homework helper. They wanted the focus to be on the path to the solution, and not on the facts. This became the foundation of Mathleak’s pedagogical model – making math more accessible and understandable through innovative digital technology.
They built a team of highly skilled mathematicians who were also very good at explaining how to solve math problems in a pedagogical way. For eight years, the team hoarded math problems and created solutions for Mathleaks.
After two years, Dmitri Lioubartsev, a computer engineer from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, joined the team, providing technical development of Mathleaks and expertise in the company’s AI technology.
A few years of development and fine-tuning later, Mathleaks was launched as a mobile app in 2014. At the time, EdTech and online study were relatively new concepts but the need for digital math homework help turned out to be huge. Being able to work on assignments directly on your phone or computer – whenever you wanted – was a perfect fit.
From 2016 to 2017, 25 % of Swedish high school students used Mathleaks.
“Over time, we began to expand, and developed digital tools aimed at teachers for in-class teaching of math,” says Mårtensson.
AI provides new opportunities
On a global scale, Mathleaks is a small fish in a big sea, but the Swedish Edtech company has managed to develop the first revolutionary AI technology for math. “The big tech giants are one step behind,” says Mårtensson.
“We are launching a new revolutionary product in August and the goal is for it to be on par with human intelligence.”
Since 2022, Mathleaks is also available to the US market and Mårtensson is positive about Mathleaks’ development curve.
“As we enter the age of AI, we have completely new opportunities to create new tools based on the challenges of our target groups. For example, for a teacher it can be about reducing slow and repetitive work, and getting more time for teaching.”
Customer value is always the focus for the team at Mathleaks. The best rating Mårtensson thinks the company can get is when users contact him and tell him how the app has helped them; sometimes it can be about daring to dream bigger.
“We often get students who contact us and tell us that, for example, they have dared to apply to medical school thanks to Mathleaks. That’s what our offer and solutions are all about.”
Facts about Mathleaks
Mathleaks is an EdTech company that offers digital studies in math for middle and high school students – and for their parents who can get some relief when it comes to homework help at home as well as the ability to follow statistics for their children. Mathleaks also has its own product for teachers and study coaches that can relieve administration by offering automatic grading, help with lesson building and worksheet creation using pre-made lesson plans and exercise banks, and more. Mathleaks offers textbook solutions and eCourses on all devices and platforms mobile, tablet, computer, iPhone, and Android.
