Sparkli: Ex-Googlers' AI App Makes Learning Fun for Kids

Former Google employees are tackling the challenge of engaging children in modern learning with Sparkli, an innovative AI-powered app. This edtech startup aims to transform how kids aged 5-12 explore complex topics like financial literacy and entrepreneurship through interactive "expeditions."

The Need for Engaging Education

While major tech companies and emerging startups are developing AI solutions for children, many current offerings are limited to text or voice, often failing to truly captivate young minds. Sparkli's founders, Lax Poojary, Lucie Marchand, and Myn Kang, all former Googlers, recognized this gap as parents struggling to satisfy their own children's curiosity with sufficiently interactive answers.

“Kids, by definition, are very curious, and my son would ask me questions about how cars work or how it rains. My approach was to use ChatGPT or Gemini to explain these concepts to a six-year-old, but that is still a wall of text. What kids want is an interactive experience. This was our core process behind founding Sparkli,” Poojary told TechCrunch.

From Google's Incubator to Sparkli

Sparkli was founded last year by Poojary, Marchand, and Kang. Prior to this venture, Poojary and Kang co-founded Touring Bird, a travel aggregator, and Shoploop, a video-focused social commerce app, both developed within Google's internal startup incubator, Area 120. Marchand, Sparkli's CTO, was also a co-founder of Shoploop and later worked at Google. Their collective experience in product development at Google and YouTube underpins Sparkli's user-centric design.

“When a kid asked what Mars looks like fifty years ago, we might have shown them a picture,” said Poojary. “Ten years ago, we might have shown them a video. With Sparkli, we want kids to interact and experience what Mars is like.”

An Expedition into Modern Learning

Sparkli addresses the common criticism that traditional education systems often lag in teaching modern concepts. The app creates AI-powered learning “expeditions” to introduce children to vital subjects such as skills design, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship. Users can choose from predefined topics across various categories or pose their own questions to generate a personalized learning path. The app also features a new daily topic to encourage continuous discovery.

Each "chapter" within a topic is a rich blend of audio, video, images, quizzes, and games. Kids can either listen to generated voice content or read the text. Crucially, Sparkli offers "choose-as-you-go adventures" that remove the pressure of right or wrong answers, fostering a stress-free learning environment.

Generative AI at its Core

A key differentiator for Sparkli is its use of generative AI to create all media assets dynamically. This allows the company to craft a complete learning experience within two minutes of a user asking a question, a speed they are continuously working to improve.

Prioritizing Safety and Pedagogy

Recognizing concerns around AI use by children, Sparkli has implemented robust safety measures. While certain topics like sexual content are completely banned on the app, it is designed to handle sensitive subjects like self-harm by teaching emotional intelligence and encouraging children to communicate with their parents. The startup emphasizes its commitment to effective education, noting that its first two hires were a PhD holder in educational science and AI, and an experienced teacher, ensuring content is grounded in sound pedagogical principles.

School Pilots and Future Vision

Sparkli is currently piloting its app with an institute that boasts a network of over 100,000 students, having tested its product in more than 20 schools last year. The primary target audience is children aged 5-12. The app also includes a dedicated teacher module, enabling educators to monitor student progress and assign homework. Inspired by Duolingo's engagement strategies, Sparkli incorporates streaks, rewards, and quest cards to motivate consistent learning.

“We have seen a very positive response from our school pilots. Teachers often use Sparkli to create expeditions that kids can explore at the start of the class and lead them into a more discussion-based format. Some teachers also used it to create [homework] after they explain a topic to let kids explore further and get a measure of their understanding,” Poojary said.

While the immediate focus is on global school partnerships for the next few months, Sparkli plans to make the app available for consumer download by mid-2026.

Securing Seed Funding

The company recently secured $5 million in pre-seed funding, led by Swiss venture firm Founderful. This marks Founderful's inaugural pure-play edtech investment. Lukas Weder, Founderful's founding partner, expressed his conviction in Sparkli, citing the team's technical prowess and the significant market opportunity.

“As a father of two kids who are in school now, I see them learning interesting stuff, but they don’t learn topics like financial literacy or innovation in technology. I thought from a product point of view, Sparkli gets them away from video games and lets them learn stuff in an immersive way,” Weder said.