John Leaver, one of the co-founders, said: "I started Pindex out of frustration with the dull, dry material my 10-year-old daughter would bring home from school.

"Making every topic engaging is a huge task - too much for any one person. Pindex enables teachers and professors to share their best material. Working together like this is the only way to solve the problem."

Pindex's four-person team includes Mr Fry, who offers creative direction and Mr Leaver, who comes from a video background. "Stephen is an incredibly nice guy and he's genuinely enthusiastic about education," said Mr Leaver, who met Mr Fry while filming a video for a charity.

"We're fortunate to not need financial investment at the moment. We'll start talks with investors fairly soon, but there's no rush."