Can devices like the iPad and even the iPhone be useful learning tools for young kids?
Absolutely, says SmarTots, which has developed a mobile apps recommendation and analytics platform specifically for kids aged 2-7 (and their parents, educators and mobile app developers from around the world).
Investors are betting on the mobile education startup to make waves, too: SmarTots has just raised $750,000 in seed funding from Xu Xiaoping’s Zhen Fund, which led the round, and international investors like ChinaRock Capital, SOSventures and Angelvest.
Xiaoping is the co-founder of New Oriental Education & Technology Group (aka New Oriental), a publicly listed provider of private educational services in China.
With its mobile platform for kids, SmarTots aims to provide parents with a window into their child’s “app world”. Parents can receive reports tracking their children’s learning activities across various SmarTots apps, including subject aptitudes, amount of time spent on specific apps and recommendations for other applications.
In addition, SmarTots delivers teacher advice and educator-developed suggestions for interest-matching and social family activities to reinforce learning.
Since its launch in December 2010, the company has clocked over 600,000 downloads.
Developers who are interested in gaining access to SmarTots’ SDK, cross-promotion tools and reporting features can sign up here.
On a sidenote: Smartots’ CEO, Jesper Lodahl, spent more than seven years working for Nokia, where he developed four phones and created two patents which have been implemented in more than 1 billion mobile phones worldwide.
