Pelican
Pelican Invests is a New York-based financial literacy platform, founded in 2022, that uses the Penny the Pelican children's book and a schools-focused Pelican Edu platform to teach money skills to kids, families, and educators.
- Company typePublic
- Founded2022
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Pelican does
Pelican Invests is a New York-based, for-profit financial literacy platform founded in 2022 that helps children and families build money skills. The company markets itself around a flagship children's book, "Penny the Pelican Plans Ahead," which it describes as a #1 best-seller, and uses the recurring Penny the Pelican character to anchor a broader content suite of stories, games, and guides aimed at teaching financial concepts in an age-appropriate format.
The product surface spans three channels served from a single platform at pelicaninvests.com: a Families section for direct-to-consumer engagement, a Pelican Edu Platform for schools that delivers structured curriculum and resources to educators, and a Partners page indicating intent to build a distribution ecosystem. The core technology is content and curriculum delivery — there is no disclosed proprietary AI, model, or platform infrastructure in the data, and no native mobile app is listed. Distribution relies on the book's organic reach into family/retail channels and accelerator-driven introductions into the school system.
The business model is early-stage and not fully disclosed. Pelican Invests is a private company with 1–10 employees that has raised $100,000 in disclosed dilutive capital (Right Side Capital Management, June 2025) and has been admitted to four accelerators — Techstars, Neo, Village Capital, and Columbia Business School — between November 2024 and mid-2025. No pricing, revenue, ARR, or customer-logo data is publicly disclosed, and there are no certifications, patents, or regulatory milestones on file. The company is distinct from unrelated "Pelican" entities in the dataset, including Pelican Products (protective cases), Pelican Acquisition Corporation / Greenland Energy Company (NASDAQ: GLND), and Pelican Canada Inc. (planned Pelican AI Corp. listing).
Pelican firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Pelican
- Legal name
- Pelican Invests
- Website
- https://pelicaninvests.com
- Company type
- Public
- Founded year
- 2022
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Pelican Invests is a New York-based financial literacy platform, founded in 2022, that uses the Penny the Pelican children's book and a schools-focused Pelican Edu platform to teach money skills to kids, families, and educators.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Pelican industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Children's Financial Literacy Education
- NAICS
- Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Support Services (6117)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Investing Fundamentals (Stocks, Bonds, Funds, Risk) (EDAAAJAH)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Personal Finance & Financial Literacy for Students (EDAMAIAH), Family & Life-Stage Financial Planning (Marriage, Kids, Caregiving) (EDAAAJAM)
Keywords
Where Pelican is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Pelican business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations
Revenue model
- Protective Case Sales: Sale of protective cases and solutions for military, industrial, and consumer applications
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Pelican product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Pelican Invests produces and distributes children's financial literacy content, anchored by the #1 best-selling book "Penny the Pelican Plans Ahead." It operates a digital platform that delivers stories, games, and guides for families and a separate Pelican Edu platform that provides structured financial literacy curriculum and resources for schools. The combined offering is designed to teach money skills to children through joyful, character-driven learning experiences both at home and in the classroom.
Product overview
Pelican operates across two distinct business segments: (1) Pelican Invests is a financial education platform for children offering the Penny the Pelican children's book, a Families section, and the Pelican Edu platform for schools - all designed to teach money skills through stories, games, and guides. (2) Pelican Products operates the Pelican-Hardigg Technical Solutions division providing protective case solutions for military drones and UAS applications, having delivered over one million case solutions in the past two years.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Penny the Pelican (Penny the Pelican Plans Ahead) The company's flagship children's book, described as the #1 best-selling book in its category, featuring the Penny the Pelican character to teach money lessons in a fun, engaging way for kids and families.
- Pelican Invests Platform Digital platform helping families teach kids money skills through joyful stories, games, and guides, accessible via the Pelican Invests website.
- Pelican Edu Platform Educational platform for schools to teach financial literacy skills to children through structured curriculum and resources.
Companies that use Pelican
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Pelican technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
Pelican partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.
- Pelican-HardiggflagshipPelican-Hardigg Technical Solutions represents the convergence of Pelican Products and Hardigg companies following their 2009 merger, now operating under unified brand identity.
- HalliburtoncoreDrilling services partnership for Greenland Energy Company operations in the Jameson Land Basin. Halliburton will provide drilling services as part of the field preparation for oil exploration activities.
- DesgannéscoreArctic logistics support partnership for Greenland Energy Company's operations in East Greenland. Desgannés provides specialized logistics capabilities for remote arctic field operations.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves4 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Pelican competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Zogo: Zogo delivers gamified financial literacy content for students and partners with financial institutions and schools — closely aligned with Pelican Edu's school-channel approach.
- Greenlight: Greenlight offers a debit card and financial literacy app for kids and teens, the closest direct competitor to Pelican Invests in teaching children money skills through digital tools and educational content.
- Step: Step provides banking and financial education tools for teens and families, directly comparable to Pelican's mission of building lifelong money skills in younger users.
- Banzai: Banzai provides personal finance curricula for K–12 schools and learners, a direct comparable to Pelican Edu on the institutional financial-literacy side.
- FoolProof: FoolProof provides financial literacy tools and curriculum for K–12 schools, directly competing with Pelican Edu for school-district partnerships.
- Current: Current offers a mobile banking platform for teens with built-in financial literacy features, competing with Pelican in the kids/teens money-skills category.
Broad incumbents
- Junior Achievement: Junior Achievement is a long-standing, broad-scope financial education organization for K–12 students; an incumbent that schools may already use in place of Pelican Edu.
Emerging players
- Banqer: Banqer offers a classroom-based financial literacy platform for students and teachers, an emerging peer overlapping with Pelican Edu's school curriculum.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses3 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks4 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Pelican financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Pelican leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Pelican funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds4 records
Investors5 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Pelican M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Pelican
What does Pelican do?
Pelican Invests produces and distributes children's financial literacy content, anchored by the #1 best-selling book "Penny the Pelican Plans Ahead." It operates a digital platform that delivers stories, games, and guides for families and a separate Pelican Edu platform that provides structured financial literacy curriculum and resources for schools. The combined offering is designed to teach money skills to children through joyful, character-driven learning experiences both at home and in the classroom.
Is Pelican a public or private company?
Pelican is a public company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Pelican founded?
Pelican was founded in 2022. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Pelican based?
Pelican is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Pelican make money?
One revenue line is on record: protective Case Sales.
Who are Pelican's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Zogo, Greenlight, Step, Banzai, FoolProof and Current. Junior Achievement is listed as a broad incumbent. Banqer is listed as an emerging player.
Does Pelican have an API?
No public API is recorded for Pelican.
What industry is Pelican in?
Pelican's product category is Children's Financial Literacy Education. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAAAJAH, Investing Fundamentals (Stocks, Bonds, Funds, Risk), with a secondary code of EDAMAIAH, Personal Finance & Financial Literacy for Students. Its NAICS code is 611710.