Zurich-based startup emerges from stealth with a platform designed to transform screen time into interactive learning experiences that support curiosity, independent learning, and future-ready skills.
Zurich-based Sparkli, an AI-based learning platform for children, has raised a $5 million pre-seed round to bring its multimodal learning engine to families and schools globally.
While children today have broad access to information, many digital learning tools offer limited ways to explore complex ideas in engaging and age-appropriate formats. Sparkli aims to address this gap with a learning model designed for the developing brain.
Using real-time multimodal AI, the platform enables children to create interactive learning experiences, turning questions into multidisciplinary, real-world learning journeys that support skills such as technology, design thinking, sustainability, financial literacy, and global awareness.
Our goal is to build agency in the next generation. Sparkli is designed to turn screen time into an environment where curiosity and independent thinking can develop,
said founder and CEO Lax Poojary.
Sparkli’s approach focuses on three shifts in how children learn: moving from static curricula to real-time exploration, replacing passive content with interactive and multimodal experiences, and prioritising creativity and problem-solving over memorisation. These experiences are supported by a system that builds an evolving interest and knowledge profile for each child, enabling more personalised and adaptive learning over time.
The company was founded by a team with backgrounds at Google Area 120, Search, and YouTube, alongside engineers and designers with experience in education and research, including contributors from ETH. The platform combines generative AI, pedagogy, motion design, and game mechanics, while incorporating safety measures and age-appropriate design for younger users.
The funding will support the scaling of Sparkli’s generative learning engine and preparations for a private beta launch. The platform is currently being validated through a strategic pilot with a large international private school group, providing access to a network of more than 100 schools and over 100,000 students.