Sioux Falls educational tech company Montessorium has closed a $1 million financing round that will allow it expand into apps focused on parents.

The company’s funds all were raised in South Dakota. The financing round was led by Bluestem Investment Fund 2016, LLC, and includes funding from four South Dakota angel funds: Falls Angel Fund, LLC; Two Bridges Capital, LLC; Kampeska Capital, LLC; and SDSU/Brookings Angel Fund II, LLC.

“We’re overjoyed by this show of support from investors in our home state,” CEO Bobby George said. “We’ve had great success with our apps for children, including Intro to Math and Intro to Letters, but this new round of investment will take us to the next level by allowing us to focus on the entire family, including parents.”

The new round brings the company to $2 million in financing. George said the company hopes to serve “as a beacon for other start-ups in the region, sending the message that you don’t have to go to Silicon Valley to do something great. You can get the support you need, right at home.”

In October, Montessorium released Primary, an iOS app, designed as “a source for parenting positivity.” It includes daily parenting tips and articles.

“We’re helping parents help children,” co-founder June George said.

Primary has been featured on the App Store homepage and downloaded more than 30,000 times. It also works with Alexa. To learn more, visit http://primary.community.

”We are very excited about Montessorium’s efforts,” said Matthew Paulson of Falls Angel Fund. “For the first time, children, parents and classrooms have access to high-quality educational apps and also benefit from the Montessori teaching style approach at the same time.”

Since launching in 2010, Montessorium has more than 2 million downloads of its children’s apps. They have been featured in commercials for the iPad and in an Apple billboard campaign.