Lirvana Labs, creator of the Yeti Confetti Kids app which provides an AI-powered personalized learning companion for preschool to elementary grade children, announced it has raised $5.3M in early-stage financing led by Kapor Capital III, Transcend Capital Partners II, and Chingona Ventures. Lirvana Labs will use this funding to expand its flagship product, Yeti Confetti Kids app, focusing on how large language models (LLMs) and generative AI capabilities can be harnessed to deliver personalized learning opportunities for globally diverse environments. Lirvana Labs will also use the funds to pursue efficacy studies with leading research institutions plus further its partnerships with pilot schools and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning has become integral to every child’s education as schools and parents embrace technology’s evolving role. However, this transition brings challenges, as the National Assessment of Educational Progress saw a decline in learning success since 2020 with decreased test scores across subjects and 67% of 4th graders struggling to read proficiently. In response to these stats and the growing emergence of AI, siblings Christie Pang and Clement Pang founded Lirvana Labs, leveraging their collective experiences as a working parent and an established enterprise SaaS entrepreneur with multiple machine learning patents.
Lirvana Labs’ Yeti Confetti Kids harnesses AI and cognitive research to act as a versatile educational companion, while also empowering parents and teachers with actionable insights into each child’s cognitive, social and emotional development. The platform creates engaging, healthy, and multi-modal learning experiences spanning over 200 English Literacy, Mathematical Reasoning, and Social-Emotional Skills aligned with Common Core, UN CASEL, and Bloom’s Taxonomy frameworks. Trained with LLM-powered oral explanations and scaffolded instruction, Yeti Confetti Kids adapts to each child’s abilities in real-time, continuously developing and providing a supportive, guidance-based framework that fosters deeper cognitive mastery, aids in concept recall, and rewards all learning abilities. “As a mother of three, I’m driven by the promise and challenge to apply generative AI in a purposeful way,” said Christie Pang, co-founder and co-CEO of Lirvana Labs. “Our goal is to democratize education worldwide, ensuring every child, from makeshift classrooms to elite schools, benefits from innovative technology built by the best engineering minds. We’re proud that our mission is supported by parents, global investors, and school operators.”
“The core of Lirvana AI’s vision is ‘Learning Nirvana’ – a way to create what we refer to as an ‘AI learning sidekick’, trained with research-backed curriculum, cognitive development theories, and scaffolded instruction,” said Clement Pang, co-founder and co-CEO of Lirvana Labs. “We are perfecting the core intellectual property of Lirvana Labs to empower teachers and parents with AI-powered tools to educate their students and children, regardless of background or economic strata, in an easier, more scientific way.”
Lirvana Labs collaborates with experts including Dr. Alexandra Chen, a United Nations Advisor and renowned Harvard researcher in children’s cognitive functioning; Dr Alice Siu, senior research fellow from Stanford University specializing in critical thinking; literacy specialist and previous school leader Claire Galdun of Reading Reimagined; and is proud to have advisors such as Amy Chang, board member at Disney and P&G and social-emotional learning curriculum expert Christine Ma-Lau, among others, to ensure a holistic approach to equity, deep tech development and learning.
Lirvana Labs is poised for further global expansion, targeting five continents in 2024 and a growing list of native languages including English, Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, and more to suit its worldwide pilot needs. Concurrently, the team is developing a university-based research study to evaluate the efficacy of Lirvana Labs’ proprietary AI-enabled instruction model with schools and NGOs worldwide with diverse curricula and needs. “Our partnership with Lirvana Labs is not just an investment, but a step towards building a more equitable and impactful future for all students,” said Brian Dixon, managing partner at Kapor Capital. “I’m confident that Christie and Clement’s lived experience will improve student outcomes in literacy, math, and especially social-emotional learning. As a parent, I know the importance of navigating screen time and can wholeheartedly suggest Yeti Confetti.”
Source: PR Newswire
