A STUDENT entrepreneur from Wickwar has secured £30,000 for his invention which aids maths study.

Dan Trickey has developed a maths revision tool that can generate an infinite number of questions and provide feedback, signalling an end to the need for personal tutors.

He and co-designer Kajetan Champlewski secured £30,000 for their Questioneer startup at a Dragons’ Den-style investment event with the University of Southampton’s Future Worlds incubator earlier this month.

Dan, a former Katharine Lady Berkeley’s School pupil, has developed the business in the first year of his Computer Science degree at Southampton.

Questioneer algorithmically generates an infinite number of questions, provides feedback, worked solutions and makes suggestions for what to try next.

“I have always wanted to do something more with my life than just sit in an office,” Dan said.

“Entrepreneurship is an opportunity to make a real difference to education and make improvements to the world. We hope that Questioneer will become one of the top revision platforms in the education sector.”

Dan is from Wickwar, where he has been a member of 1st Chipping Sodbury Scout Group since the age of six, and has volunteered there as a leader since 2014. He also still volunteers with the Beaver Scouts (aged six to eight) when he visits home.

Dan and Kajetan are planning to trial a prototype of Questioneer at schools later this term ahead of a formal launch in September.

Questioneer was one of six student startups pitched in front of a packed live audience at the Future Worlds incubator’s investment event at the University of Southampton Students’ Union on May 12.

Dragon investors Chris Broad, Apple Director of Sales Contracting EMEIA, Andrew Doe, serial digital entrepreneur and founder of confetti.co.uk, Sonja Lami, angel investor and Insight Investment Fund Manager, and Nick Lawton, Chairman of the Lawton Communications Group, interrogated and negotiated on stage with the entrepreneurs.

Kajetan and Dan secured £30,000 of investment from Andrew, Sonja and Nick.

The Future Worlds event is an annual showcase of a growing student enterprise culture at the University of Southampton and was co-hosted this year by the Fish on Toast, Entrepreneurs Club and Enactus Southampton societies.

Dr Reuben Wilcock, Future Worlds Director, said: “It’s been great to see an infectious entrepreneurial culture building on campus in recent years which now seen over £450,000 pledged on-stage to student start-ups at our four annual pitching events.

"The student entrepreneurs really impressed the investors with their passion, professionalism and presentation, and it will be exciting to see what their fledgling businesses can achieve in the coming years."