Moonshoot, a startup with that aims to teach English to children globally through an online gaming experience, has raised a total of $6.6 million in funding led by Alsop Louie Partners and TL Ventures.The startup is also announcing that Tom Kalinske; former CEO & Chairman of Leapfrog, President of Knowledge Universe, CEO of Sega of America, and CEO of Mattel; is joining Moonshoot as Executive Chairman.
Moonshoot tries to make English fun and exciting for children by using online games. Moonshoot, which hasn’t launches yet, will first be released in Japan. Moonshoot’s President and Co-Founder, Jay Jamison, says that Japan has a significant English language learning market, with nearly 50 percent of families paying for their children to take a form of supplemental English education.
The first product released by Moonshoot will help children build a vocabulary of 600 words, 200 phrases, that will enable them to read up to 50 classic children’s books. Teaching English through forms of gaming seems to be catching speed. We recently wrote about WizWorld, a startup that is helping to teach English to children in China through virtual worlds.