Sparkil believes that children learn faster through more engaging and interactive content
Sparkly
“Thirty years ago, if your child wanted to learn more about Mars, you would have given them a book. Nowadays, you might encourage them to watch a video,” says Lux Poojary, CEO and co-founder of Swiss edtech startup Sparkri. “Today, children should be able to explore Mars on their own.”
To be clear, Sparkli, which announced today that it has raised $5 million in pre-seed funding, is not proposing putting young people on space missions. Sparkli describes itself as a “multimodal AI native learning engine.” Plain English uses artificial intelligence to help kids explore their ideas and accelerate their learning through engaging and stimulating digital experiences.
Poojary and co-founders Mynseok Kang and Luci Marchand met at Google, where they worked on a number of businesses, including YouTube. While the latter spurred an interest in video content, it wasn’t until Poojary and Kang had a child that the idea for Sparkli began to take shape. “My son has always asked me a lot of questions about how things work and why something is happening,” Poojary says. “Like most people, I turned to sources like ChatGPT and Gemini for answers, but I found that my son would switch off when faced with a ton of texts. It just kills his curiosity.”
So Sparkli’s founders hired a team of AI developers and education experts to develop a more visual and interactive learning experience. Aimed at kids ages 5 to 12, Sparkli begins by prompting questions kids might want to ask, like how to build a space station on Mars or what is snow made of? Its AI engine then generates “explorations,” or interactive sessions where kids can explore questions while learning important lessons.
Apart from this, Sparkli has also developed a series of pre-built pathways aimed at teaching skills and lessons in areas such as financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and sustainability. We aim to add more of these routes over time.
The founders believe that Sparkli offers something new to the global edtech industry. A recent study from Grand View Research estimates that it will be worth about $350 billion by 2030, growing at a rate of 13% annually.
It’s a crowded market with many innovative companies recognizing the potential of AI to transform teaching and learning. Big names like Duolingo, Coursera, Carnegie Learning, Quizlet, and Squirrel AI are all launching AI-powered personalized learning and adaptive tutoring solutions. Additionally, startups such as South Korea’s Riiid and Sweden’s Sana Labs are attracting significant investment to build AI tools and platforms in edtech.
However, Sparkli’s founders and investors note that many of these solutions are aimed at older children and offer more formalized learning that aligns with school curriculums and exam syllabuses. Poojary asserts, “Children learn by exploring, choosing, asking questions, and discovering what inspires them.” He points out that there is a gap in the market for a capable yet safe platform that combines the latest generation technology with strong guardrails and age-friendly design.
The company, backed by AI developers at Zurich-based ETH, has begun piloting Sparkli with families and schools. A strategic pilot is currently underway with a leading private school group, providing access to over 100 schools and 100,000 students.
Sparkli plans to eventually sell subscriptions to its platform to both education providers and parents. Perhaps a free version of the tool will also be available. The company’s pre-seed round will give it time to expand the generative learning engine that underpins the platform and consider commercialization.
The round was led by Swiss venture capital firm Founderful, with participation from Arc Investors and a grant from Swiss government agency Innosuisse. “Sparkli is revolutionizing the way children interact with knowledge,” says partner Lucas Weder. “The team is applying quality engineering and thoughtful pedagogy to an area in dire need of innovation. Our work with schools shows a real desire for tools that foster curiosity and agency, rather than passive consumption.”
