A trio of former Google product builders is taking a fresh swing at kids’ education with Sparkli, an interactive, AI-powered learning app designed to turn questions into immersive “expeditions.” Rather than relying on text chats or static videos, the startup is betting that dynamic stories, games, and auto-generated media will keep kids engaged long enough to actually learn.
From Google’s Area 120 roots to Sparkli’s founding team
Sparkli was founded by Lax Poojary, Lucie Marchand, and Myn Kang, who previously launched Touring Bird and Shoploop out of Google’s Area 120 incubator. After stints across Google and YouTube, the team regrouped last year to tackle a shared frustration: as parents, Poojary and Kang found it hard to satisfy kids’ curiosity with tools that were either too flat or too fragmented.
The company has raised $5 million in pre-seed funding led by Swiss venture firm Founderful. It’s the firm’s first pure-play bet on edtech, a signal that investors see room for purpose-built learning experiences in a market crowded with general AI assistants. Founderful’s partner Lukas Weder said the team’s technical depth and the opportunity to teach modern skills beyond the core curriculum were key to the decision.
How the app works: inside Sparkli’s dynamic expeditions
Sparkli’s core mechanic is the “expedition”—a guided path through a topic that branches based on a child’s choices. Kids can pick from curated themes or ask their own questions, such as “What would it be like to live on Mars?” Within about two minutes, the app generates a multimedia learning sequence on the fly, blending narration, short videos, images, quizzes, and light games.
To keep momentum, Sparkli spotlights a new topic every day and rewards practice with streaks and collectible “quest cards” tied to a child’s avatar. The company says its design deliberately avoids punitive right-or-wrong framing for younger learners, using choose-as-you-go interactions to reduce performance anxiety while still checking comprehension.
While much of the experience is student-led, Sparkli has a teacher dashboard for assigning expeditions, monitoring progress, and shaping discussions in class. Pilots over the past year spanned more than 20 schools, and the company is now trialing the platform with an education network that serves over 100,000 students. The initial focus is ages 5–12, with broader parent-facing access planned for mid-2026.
Built with pedagogy and safety in mind for young learners
Unlike generic chatbots that happen to answer questions, Sparkli is positioning itself as a learning tool first. The company’s first two hires were a PhD in educational science and AI and a classroom teacher, a move meant to anchor its product in learning science, not just novelty. Content is scoped to developmentally appropriate goals, with emphasis on emerging topics that many systems underserve, including design skills, financial literacy, and entrepreneurial thinking.
Safety is a gating issue for any AI product for kids. Sparkli blocks sexual content and says sensitive queries—like those touching on self-harm—are routed to age-appropriate explanations that encourage emotional literacy and prompt children to speak with a trusted adult. Those controls acknowledge the broader scrutiny of AI for minors, as seen in recent complaints and lawsuits involving major AI platforms. Groups such as Common Sense Media have urged stricter guardrails and transparency around how AI interacts with children.
Why interactivity matters for engagement and retention
Kids’ attention is fiercely contested. Common Sense Media reports that tweens now average nearly six hours of daily entertainment screen time; any learning product must compete with games and short-form video. Sparkli’s wager is that agency—letting kids steer the story, adjust pace, and revisit tough concepts—creates stickier learning than passive content.
The approach borrows cues from popular apps while keeping the classroom in mind. Duolingo’s streaks inform Sparkli’s daily rhythm, but the startup ties those loops to teacher objectives and reflection prompts. The frictionless generation of media may also help educators keep material fresh without hours of prep, a common barrier in tech-enabled classrooms.
Competitive landscape and what’s next for Sparkli in edtech
Education is becoming a proving ground for generative AI. Khan Academy’s tutor, Roblox’s edu partnerships, and a crop of literacy and math startups are all testing how far AI can go in instruction. Sparkli’s differentiator is its on-demand multimedia expeditions tailored to kids’ questions, rather than retrofitting a chatbot into lesson plans.
For schools, the pitch is a safe, teacher-aligned tool that makes abstract concepts tangible in minutes. For parents, it’s a way to channel curiosity into constructive exploration rather than endless scrolling. The big test will be outcomes: can AI-generated journeys improve retention and critical thinking over time? Research from organizations like the OECD has repeatedly flagged gaps in areas such as financial literacy; if Sparkli can show measurable gains there, it could stand out in a crowded field.
In the near term, Sparkli plans to deepen school partnerships and shorten its two-minute generation window. If it can keep production quality high while scaling across subjects and grade bands, the company may prove that AI in kids’ education works best when it is less like a chatbot and more like an adventure.
