Stickery, a company that is building a mobile learning platform focused on games for kids, generates progress reports for teachers and parents, using curriculums that are approved by educators.
The company has announced its seed funding led by Google Ventures and 500 Startups, so it’s clear that education is ripe for innovation, and these two titans believe in Stickery’s vision.
With games such as “Mermaid Waters: Adventures of Hana and Cory” for iOS on its platform, the company is taking the education field by storm with its serialized adventure and learning platform. The app is currently Free to celebrate its launch and is featured by Apple in the “What’s Hot” section of the app store under Education.
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This particular game has missions like this one that let kids pick which fish tank has more fish in it. With the amazing graphics and animations, we can see why both kids and parents could get a lot out of this platform.
As we know, kids of all ages play with iPhones, iPods, and iPads, and in some cases, are shocked when the things they touch don’t interact with them. The company thinks that games like “Angry Birds” aren’t enough to educate our kids, as well as bring kids and parents together on their progress.
We talked to Stickery CEO and co-founder Bjorn Lee about the idea behind Stickery and the future of the education gaming platform.
TNW: Please tell us about the Stickery team and why the focus on Kids’ games
Bjorn Lee: Jarrold and I were classmates at Stanford and Stickery is our 2nd tech startup together. Our third member, Fadly, is an award-winning media producer and used to work in TV and the education industry. We are stoked by how kids grok touchscreen devices like ducks to water. This new generation has no legacy knowledge of media or software on traditional devices like TV or computer. We are focused on the preschool segment for now and are really excited to be one of the pioneers and rethink how entertainment and education could be for the society of tomorrow.
TNW: What is it about Kids’ games that is ready to be disrupted
Bjorn Lee: It is the relationship of parents with kids’ games. We think the mobile phone is under-utilized today for parents. It is more than just a container of games to distract kids. We want to start by making parents understand their kids better through the games through data and context. Our goal is to eventually make the smartphone an on-demand “teaching assistant” for parents.
TNW: What are your goals to change the way kids interact with games?
Bjorn Lee: Young kids do not control their access to games. Parents do. We are looking at a dual-user model here which is very fascinating because of the value of games for learning. Learning means very very different things to kids and parents but yet is the bridge to why children’s gaming is such a big market.
TNW: What are your business goals to keep Stickery around for years to come?
Bjorn Lee: Our vision for Stickery is to change the model of children’s gaming – for modern parents on mobile devices. We will be focused on the preschool sector for the first few years before looking at the K-12 market.
With Xbox Live-like incentives and interactions built into the platform, Stickery is in a prime position to draw great game developers to build the best education games around for devices that some kids have been using since birth. With a backer like Google Ventures, we’re sure that the company won’t run out of money anytime soon, either.
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