EdFolio eyes more global users on its learning app 

By Aubrey Rose A. Inosante, Reporter

ILIGAN-BASED startup EdFolio, Inc. seeks to attract more overseas buyers on its e-commerce platform, while offering an additional stream of income to educators selling their digital learning materials.

“Last time I checked, 26% of our sign-ups came from teachers in the United States for their classes,” Ursel M. Laureno, chief executive officer and cofounder at EdFolio, told ����ý. “The market outside is that ripe since they have a similar platform.”

EdFolio started at the height of a coronavirus pandemic in 2021. “I realized that needed a platform to share educational resources, she said.

In 2025, the startup will do “version 2.0” of EdFolio, in which it plans to change the payment currency depending on a user’s location, so buyers will know the price in dollars.

Filipino parents based in countries such as Laos and Cambodia have checked out e-books on the website for their homeschooled children.

“If you’re looking for a place where you can see the e-books or the worksheets that you have sitting on your desk and see what value that can bring you, then you can sign up at EdFolio,” she said.

Sellers can sell e-books that may either be downloaded or paid through subscription.

Ms. Laureno, who is also chief operating officer at Bethany Baptist Academy in Iligan City, said she wants the platform to be a source of extra income for teachers.

“I see EdFolio as one of the e-commerce frontlines for hybrid and online learning platforms because it’s not just EdFolio that’s doing the education,” she said. “It’s partnering with every educator in the Philippines.”

One of EdFolio’s new startup e-book publishers managed to get more than P5,000 in sales for a homeschool parent in Laos last month, Ms. Laureno said.

To date, the app has 1, 036 sign-ups for its e-commerce website, 120 of which are authors from small and established publishers.

The e-books on arts and design, Biology, Chemistry, computer literacy, culinary, engineering, English, home economics, and more, are priced from P20 to P400, significantly lower than other outlets, Ms. Laureno said.

In terms of quality, aside from random checks, the company is planning to launch a campaign called “EdFolio Verified Educators” that aims to hire people who will edit or proofread materials uploaded to the website.

“If [a seller] will reach a certain standard, we will give them a badge,” she said. “If an author has that badge, then that author has been vetted by EdFolio.”

The startup is prioritizing EdFolio over its other educational technology product, Skooltek, an artificial intelligence (AI)-integrated school management system solution.

She said EdFolio will launch the facial recognition feature in its Skooltek platform to enter the school premises and replace the use of radio frequency identification.