Pok Pok, a Toronto-based edtech firm, has introduced that it raised $3 million in seed funding to develop its play-based studying experiences for teenagers. The corporate was based in 2019 after it spun out of Snowman, the small studio behind award-winning iOS video games Alto’s Journey, Alto’s Odyssey, Skate Metropolis and others.
The concept for Pok Pok surfaced after Snowman staff Mathijs Demaeght and Esther Huybreghts, now vice-president of design and chief artistic officer at Pok Pok, respectively, went in search of an app to entertain their younger son when he was a toddler. The pair had been unable to seek out an choice that match what they had been in search of and determined to construct the app they needed for themselves.
Pok Pok CEO and co-founder Melissa Money, the sister of Snowman co-founder and inventive director Ryan Money and whose background was in growing merchandise at Disney for infants and toddlers, joined the workforce when she noticed what Demaeght and Huybreghts had been engaged on.
In the present day, Pok Pok is formally separated from Snowman, and its workforce consists of 10 full-time staff after latest hiring. The startup launched its Pok Pok Playroom app, which is the primary title to go dwell from Pok Pok, in Might 2021. The app encourages youngsters to be taught by means of unbiased play and launched with six “digital toys” that develop with the kid as they age up. The corporate says that the entire toys are designed to be open-ended, as there’s no proper or mistaken method to make use of them. Huybreghts and Money emphasised that Pok Pok Playroom shouldn’t be a sport, as there aren’t any ranges to beat or goals to realize.
Picture Credit: Pok Pok
As for the brand new funding, Pok Pok will use a part of it to proceed enhancing and increasing the Pok Pok Playroom app, as the corporate plans to launch three new digital toys within the subsequent few months.
“The funding goes to enter a few completely different areas of the enterprise,” Money mentioned in an interview. “Primary goes to be advertising and marketing. We launched Pok Pok final Might and didn’t actually do any advertising and marketing, so we need to spend money on sharing Pok Pok with extra households. We’ve seen natural development over the past yr and we’d love to begin injecting slightly bit extra capital into that. And the remainder of the funding will go towards additional growth. We preserve Pok Pok Playroom with common updates, and so a part of the funding will go towards persevering with to take care of the app. We’re additionally going to additional our attain with future merchandise as properly. We really feel like we will make a dent within the universe with digital play, so we’re actually enthusiastic about growing future merchandise for older youngsters.”
Pok Pok’s seed spherical was led by Konvoy with participation from Preliminary Capital and angel traders. Present traders embody Tiny, in addition to angel traders Jon Levy, the co-founder of Mastermind Toys and Dax Dasilva, the founder and govt chair of Montreal-based tech firm Lightspeed, amongst others. The startup’s seed funding follows its $925,000 pre-seed in February 2021.
Picture Credit: Pok Pok
Huybreghts famous that the corporate is targeted on making its digital play experiences primarily based in actuality and making Pok Pok a various area. As a part of an replace launched this month, the Pok Pok Playroom app celebrated Delight.
“We launched our Delight replace in numerous locations all through the app as a result of we really feel that children want each home windows and mirrors in the way in which they see the world,” Huybreghts mentioned. “They want the home windows to empathize with the world and to see completely different views from those they’re used to. They usually want mirrors to acknowledge themselves and their family and friends, whether or not that’s by means of LGBTQI+ inclusion or in different methods.”
When it comes to the long run, Huybreghts outlined that children are going to be rising up in a society that’s vastly completely different from those that their mother and father grew up in, which is why it’s vital for them to be artistic and have the ability to assume outdoors of the field. She famous that Pok Pok’s merchandise will intention to assist kids have the ability to collaborate and cooperate with others.
“We need to make high quality merchandise that may permit mother and father to maneuver by means of childhood with their youngsters with Pok Pok as a stable supporter of their child’s creativity and training,” Huybreghts mentioned.
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