TinyTap raises $500K in seed funding to personalize the way kids learn

November 8, 2012 at 10:05 am

TinyTap is a free iPad-based application for parents and educators to create fun, personalized and educational games for kids.

It’s now easier than ever for parents to turn those everyday moments they enjoy with their kids into meaningful educational games. With TinyTap, learning is simple and something that can be done with the tap of the iPad.

Not only is TinyTap personalizing how kids learn but this newly launched Tel Aviv based startup recently raised $500K in seed funding from Inimiti, a new $35M Israeli micro venture capital fund investing in early stage new media focused start-ups.

Alon Geva, a founder and a General Partner at Inimiti, said: “We partnered with TinyTap as we see a huge opportunity to create massive amounts of educational content that will be available for kids on devices that are the future of education and a community of game creators, schools and families that will share and play games all over the world”.

Since its launch 6 months ago the application has been well received by teachers worldwide. Some have used it to teach a second language while other teachers have found it useful as a way to reinforce concepts that have already been taught. It’s also being used for special needs education including autism and Down syndrome.

Yogev Shelly, TinyTap co-founder, said: “We believe in the power of personalization. We create super simple game creations tools that anyone can use from a child to his grandparents. It gives us great pleasure to see how TinyTap is being used by families and schools around the world”.

A newly added feature, TinyTap Artist, gives parents, educators and kids the chance to draw their own games. With TinyTap Artist it’s now possible to unleash one’s imagination by turning drawings into personalized educational games. Parents and educators can use Artist to teach children the alphabet, numbers or simply to tell great stories. It’s also a great way to develop a child’s coordination, fine motor skills and to hone creativity.

Pilar Soro, a primary school teacher from Barcelona, said: “I strongly recommend teachers use TinyTap. It’s very easy and intuitive to use. The educational possibilities are endless, just like children’s creativity.”

TinyTap offers a learning experience unlike any other. Games are simple to create and can even be shared with friends. All that’s needed to create a game are some pictures. Parents or educators then add their own narrated questions to guide the child’s learning.

In the upcoming months, TinyTap is going to launch a full-scale social market where creators will be able to share their games, submit them to the market for sale and enjoy revenues. As part of this social market, parents and educators can look forward to personal and professional accounts with games on nearly any imaginable topic available on any mobile device.

“We Truly believe in the power of personalization and how important it is to the personal education revolution, with flip-class models that were seen in projects like Khan Academy and others,” said Shelly.

Download the free application here