We had the opportunity to participate in the Launch Education Conference this week. This was a great event for Ed-Tech entrepreneurs, which started with event lead Jason Calcanis opening with a quote from Pixar’s Ratatouille “Take Care of the New Ones” …. As in the new Start-ups!
Launch.co reviewed 300 different EdTech start-ups to identify 25 to present at this event. I was thrilled that Fingerprint was selected and had the opportunity to share our work with over 400 Teachers, Investors, and Entrepreneurs. I’m biased towards products that inspire a love of learning AND can be shared between parents and kids.
Here’s some things I’m excited about:
Timbuktu is an Italian based start-up working on an App based magazine for kids. Featuring amazingly beautiful design and content created by renowned authors, this is something wonderful to check out. I think about it like a modern day Weekly Reader.
Ciufcia (pronounced something like Choo-Choo) is a start-up from Poland. They’ve created a web based experience called Duckie Deck. It’s designed for parents or grandparents and kids to play together. They have some very cute games that are designed to create conversations between parents and kids, which I like quite a lot. Ciufcia stated that ½ of families in Poland have tried this product. Soon they will be in the App Store here in the US.
Playtell has created a unique app based reading experience that lets Parents and Kids read together. It’s kind of a mash-up of Skype and Interactive books that let’s families read together even when they’re apart. It’s a cool feature!
Start-up Tipitap presented something very fun called HappiTap. Happitap turns your iPhone into a cuddly stuffed animal. The phone slips easily into an animal “costume” and becomes the brains of the plush toy. Happitap is as if Teddy Ruxpin used an iPhone instead of an electronic chip. Tipitap has created a platform that seems perfect for licensed characters!
Fingerprint wasn’t launching anything new at LAUNCH EDUCATION, but we still had fun and got great feedback from the judges. “You’re Rocking”, “Love it”, “Very Smart” to name a few! Here’s a picture of me pitching my heart out.
Great to see so many wonderful companies creating apps that unite families around learning! It will be fun to watch what happens next.
Nancy MacIntyre 