Former Googlers seek to captivate kids with an AI-powered learning app

Big Tech companies and upcoming startups privation to usage generative AI to physique software and hardware for kids. A batch of those experiences are constricted to substance oregon voice, and kids mightiness not find that captivating. Three erstwhile Google employees privation to get implicit that hurdle with their generative AI-powered interactive app, Sparkli.

Sparkli was founded past twelvemonth by Lax Poojary, Lucie Marchand, and Myn Kang. As parents, Poojary and Kang were not capable to fulfill their children’s curiosity oregon springiness engaging answers to their questions.

“Kids, by definition, are precise curious, and my lad would inquire maine questions astir however cars enactment oregon however it rains. My attack was to usage ChatGPT oregon Gemini to explicate these concepts to a six-year-old, but that is inactive a partition of text. What kids privation is an interactive experience. This was our halfway process down founding Sparkli,” Poojary told TechCrunch implicit a call.

Image Credits:Sparkli

Prior to launching Sparkli, Poojary and Kang co-founded a question aggregator called Touring Bird and a video-focused societal commerce app, Shoploop, astatine Google’s Area 120, the company’s interior startup incubator. Poojary aboriginal went connected to enactment astatine Google and YouTube connected shopping. Marchand, who is the CTO of Sparkli, was besides 1 of the co-founders of Shoploop and aboriginal worked astatine Google.

“When a kid asked what Mars looks similar 50 years ago, we mightiness person shown them a picture,” said Poojary. “Ten years ago, we mightiness person shown them a video. With Sparkli, we privation kids to interact and acquisition what Mars is like.”

The startup said that acquisition systems often autumn down successful teaching modern concepts. Sparkli wants to thatch kids astir topics similar skills design, fiscal literacy, and entrepreneurship by creating an AI-powered learning “expedition.”

The app lets users research immoderate predefined topics successful antithetic categories oregon inquire their ain questions to make a learning path. The app besides highlights 1 caller taxable each time to fto kids larn thing new. Kids tin either perceive to the generated dependable oregon work the text. Chapters nether 1 taxable see a premix of audio, video, images, quizzes, and games. The app besides creates choose-as-you-go adventures that don’t make the unit of getting questions close oregon wrong.

Image Credits:Sparkli

Poojary mentioned that the startup uses generative AI to make each of its media assets connected the fly. The institution tin make a learning acquisition wrong 2 minutes of a idiosyncratic asking a question, and it is trying to trim this clip further.

The startup mentioned that portion AI assistants tin assistance children larn definite topics, their absorption is not connected education. It said that to marque its merchandise effective, the archetypal 2 hires were a PhD holder successful acquisition subject and AI and a teacher. This was a conscious determination to guarantee its contented amended serves children, keeping principles of pedagogy successful mind.

One of the cardinal concerns astir kids utilizing AI is safety. Companies similar OpenAI and Character.ai are facing lawsuits from parents who allege that these tools encouraged their children to self-harm. Sparkli said that portion definite topics similar intersexual contented are wholly banned connected the app, erstwhile a kid asks astir topics similar self-harm, the app tries to thatch them astir affectional quality and encourages them to speech to their parents.

The institution is piloting its app with an institute that has a web of schools with implicit 100,000 students. Currently, its people assemblage is children aged 5-12, and it tested its merchandise successful implicit 20 schools past year.

Sparkli has besides built a teacher module that allows teachers to way advancement and delegate homework to kids. The institution said that it was inspired by Duolingo to marque the app engaging capable that kids tin larn concepts and besides consciousness similar coming backmost to the app frequently. The app has streaks and rewards for kids for completing lessons regularly. It besides gives kids quest cards, based connected the archetypal avatar they person acceptable up, for learning antithetic topics.

“We person seen a precise affirmative effect from our schoolhouse pilots. Teachers often usage Sparkli to make expeditions that kids tin research astatine the commencement of the people and pb them into a much discussion-based format. Some teachers besides utilized it to make [homework] aft they explicate a taxable to fto kids research further and get a measurement of their understanding,” Poojary said.

While the startup wants to chiefly enactment with schools globally for the adjacent fewer months, it wants to unfastened up user entree and fto parents download the app by mid-2026.

The institution has raised $5 cardinal successful pre-seed backing led by Swiss task steadfast Founderful. Sparkli is Founderful’s archetypal pure-play edtech investment. The firm’s founding partner, Lukas Weder, said that the team’s method accomplishment and marketplace accidental nudged him to put successful the startup.

“As a begetter of 2 kids who are successful schoolhouse now, I spot them learning absorbing stuff, but they don’t larn topics similar fiscal literacy oregon innovation successful technology. I thought from a merchandise constituent of view, Sparkli gets them distant from video games and lets them larn worldly successful an immersive way,” Weder said.

This station was archetypal published connected January 22, 2026.