Twinkl: How Sheffield couple built a half a billion pound company

Jon and Susie Seaton are worth £485m, placing them fourth in our list of the richest people in South Yorkshire.

They set up Sheffield-based teaching business Twinkl in 2010 after Susie, who was working as a pre-school teacher had struggled to find educational resources online. The couple earlier this year sold a stake in Twinkl to private equity for around £170m. The deal with Vitruvian Partners valued Twinkl at around £500m.

Today, Twinkl is used in more than 200 countries world by teachers, nursery workers, parents and other educators, according to its website, and offers everything from worksheets to augmented reality games.

The firm, based at Wards Exchange on Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, employs 1,040 people, according to documents filed with Companies House.

Near the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Twinkl offered its entire library of content for free in March 2020 for three months, something the firm said it was ‘proud’ to have been able to do. Jonathan Seaton was subsequently made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to technology and education during Covid-19.