"An AI that can support every child's dreams."
Source: Know
Author: Wang Shang
On August 1, Xiaoyin Qu, founder and CEO of AI education startup Heeyo, announced the completion of a $3.5 million seed round of investment in an open letter, with investors including OpenAI Startup Fund, Amazon Alexa Fund, and Pear VC. After the financing, new employees will be brought in for product development and curriculum design.
"Heeyo's goal is to empower 1 billion children with AI to make their dreams come true, and we couldn't be more excited about what's to come," Qu said. ”
It's in a child's nature to play games, and Heeyo wants them to be able to create their own games. Heeyo is an AI chatbot with multiple characters that can speak 20 languages and help children design personalized games.
Underneath Heeyo is an AI learning game generator. According to Heeyo's official website, children can use Heeyo to design their own companions, whether it's dinosaurs, anime characters, or mysterious kittens, anyone can create super cool things.
In addition, Heeyo's AI characters can accompany children in more than 2,000 learning activities designed by experts, such as reading books, learning science, playing trivia games, or creating their own stories.
Parents, educators, and children can also design their own games by entering their child's age and keywords, generating content based on family values or children's recent interests, such as a Bible trivia game or scavenger hunt.
Xiaoyin Qu is a Chinese entrepreneur in the United States, and before founding Heeyo, she founded Run The World, a virtual event startup in Silicon Valley in 2019, which received an investment from a16z and sold to Canada virtual event software provider EventMobi in 2023.
Qu dropped out of Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. At the age of 19, she co-founded Stoooges Education, an education consulting firm for studying abroad, with a friend, and later worked at Facebook.
The following is the full content of Qu Xiaoyin's open letter:
Heeyo is the smart friend I've always wanted to have. When I was a kid, I wanted to make paper airplanes with the coolest flip scrolls. My parents were supportive but didn't know how to guide me. I threw all the test planes all over the ground and asked the teacher for advice. The teacher complained that I made a mess and said that as a girl, I should be neat. I was discouraged and suspended my project. I wondered if I could be the next SpaceX engineer if I had a smart, supportive friend who nurtured my curiosity? That's why I created Heeyo,
Artificial intelligence is getting smarter every day, and some are starting to worry about the future of our children. But I firmly believe that humans can also become smarter and keep up. We have further widened the gap by inhibiting too much of children's potential with brainless videos that hinder critical thinking, one-size-fits-all curricula that stifle creativity, and unequal access to high-quality educational resources. Imagine how many children would be able to achieve their wildest dreams if we could provide the world's 1 billion children with their own dedicated AI motivators, supporters, coaches, playmates, and educators. That's Heeyo's vision.
Although 81% of United States households with children own a tablet, popular AI apps like ChatGPT, Character AI and Claude do not serve children under the age of 13. Heeyo aims to fill this gap by providing COPPA-compliant, age-appropriate AI friends. Over the past few months, we've brought together tech experts from Meta, Instagram, and ByteDance, as well as education experts from Sesame Street, Scholastic, Stanford, and Harvard. Together, we built Heeyo, the smart AI friend that helps kids learn, now available on iOS and Android phones and tablets.
Kids can choose or design their own Heeyo friends to communicate. Each AI speaks 20 languages and is trained by child psychologists to interact with children in a safe and fun way. Heeyo's AI friends can join us in more than 2,000 expert-designed learning activities, such as reading books, learning science, playing quizzes, or creating your own stories. As children grow, Heeyo adapts to provide more challenging and age-appropriate learning games. Children can start playing with Heeyo by saying the first word, and content is available up to 11 years old.
At the heart of our technology is an AI learning game generator built on decades of research by educators, writers, psychologists, and neuroscientists. Utilizing generative AI, it creates new learning games for kids. Our education team develops activities based on current themes and age-appropriate curriculum. Parents, educators, and children can also design their own games by entering their child's age and keywords, generating content based on family values or children's latest interests, such as a Bible quiz or scavenger hunt. Our AI and content are personalized for each child and family!
In our beta test with 100 kids, we saw how much they love Heeyo. They love interacting with their AI friends and learning about topics ranging from bulldozers and construction to dinosaurs and geology. To quote one parent: "I was initially skeptical about this AI thing and tried to test if it was safe. It's very age-appropriate, and seeing my 6-year-old get creative and make their own stories is so much better than meaningless YouTube. ”
Today, we are announcing seed funding from OpenAI Startup Fund, Amazon Alexa Fund, Pear VC, Charge Ventures, and more. In total, we raised $3.5 million in seed and upfront seed funding to onboard new employees for product development and curriculum design. Our goal is to use AI to empower a billion children to achieve their wildest dreams, and we couldn't be more excited about what's to come."
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Author: Wang Shang
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