Edurino

What is it?

Edurino is making digital learning tangible. Using haptic figurines and an accompanying app, children embark on exciting missions that help them develop key skills and prepare for school. 

Why we invested

The founders

Working as consultants at BCG on digitisation and education projects, co-founders Franziska Steiner and Irene Klemm saw first-hand the potential of digital education to boost learning outcomes. When the first lockdown happened in Germany, they were frustrated by how unprepared schools were to adapt to a digital world and the learning losses that subsequently occurred. Determined to improve digital learning for preschool children, they left their consulting jobs to found Edurino and develop interactive games to teach children foundational (eg literacy, writing, maths) and 21st century skills.

The problem

The global pandemic highlighted schools’ lack of digital integration in the learning process and the absence of digital literacy in the curriculum. Many preschool-age children already use technology daily, and increasing screen time is a problem for many parents. Research shows that children’s average screen time increased by 1.5 times during the pandemic, up to over four hours per day. There is a lack of quality educational solutions catering to the pre-school age group that keep children entertained while teaching them key skills to prepare for school.

The solution

Edurino is making digital learning tangible. Using haptic figurines and an accompanying app, children embark on exciting missions that help them develop key skills and prepare for school. The app is designed to strike a balance between being fun for kids and providing a subtly incorporated educational element, informed by a master pedagogy curriculum. Parents can track their child’s progress and skill development through a parent dashboard. Edurino provides a fresh and exciting approach to digital education for preschool children, helping them build the skills they need to succeed in the digital world of tomorrow.

The opportunity

Parents are willing to spend a significant amount of money on children’s toys and entertainment, evidenced by the success of companies such as Yoto or Fox and Sheep, with some reports citing ranges from $6.5k per child over lifetime on toys alone. With children’s screen time increasing and the pandemic highlighting the need for digital literacy skills, parents are increasingly seeking solutions that are not only entertaining but also educational. By combining their learning app with haptic figurines that unlock new content, Edurino is looking to offer as many figures as possible with different learning content. Additionally, with increasingly data-driven and personalised learning, there are many potential avenues for expansion, such as analytics for parents to better support their children.

The impact

“I believe that digital media is simply a part of life for our children – and yes, even at the age of four. It’s important to me that Mara learns how to deal with it in a healthy way. The Edurino app fills screen time more sensibly than an episode of Netflix, is well thought out and has aroused interest, at least in Mara, in dealing with the topic of arithmetic beyond the world of learning. Hardly a day goes by without me having to set her additional lessons. What more could a parent ask for!? 5 out of 5 stars.” Nora, mother of Mara

Quote from the Founders

When we meet other edtech founders, we always recommend Emerge. They are constantly championing us and putting us in front of potential investors and advisors. The Emerge community of founders and operators are all very mission driven and excited by the future of education. We had the opportunity to meet that community at their annual summit in London and join an Emerge mastermind group – a high-trust, high-confidentiality group of peers where we can share raw personal and business challenges and experiences. As a founder, having a supportive network that you can trust is extremely powerful. Through Emerge, we have connected with top edtech founders and operators in the ecosystem, from companies like Chegg, Busuu, Blinkist and Kahoot!, who have helped us with areas from customer acquisition costs to content scaling as we grow Edurino.