This article tells the entrepreneurial story of Ivan Crewkov, an entrepreneur from Siberia. After his initial smart speaker project failed, he took a different approach because of his daughter's experience in learning English and founded Buddy.ai, an AI company for children's English education. The company focuses on solving the pain points of children's English learning, and recently received a seed round of financing of US$11 million, and its AI technology and business model have been recognized by capital. This not only demonstrates entrepreneurs' resilience to find opportunities in adversity, but also reflects the huge potential in the field of AI education.
After failing to enter the smart speaker market, Ivan Crewkov, an entrepreneur from Siberia, unexpectedly discovered the huge potential of AI education from his daughter's experience of learning English. Buddy.ai, an AI company for children's English education, recently received a $11 million seed round of financing led by BITKRAFT Ventures. Its AI technology and business model focusing on solving the pain points of children's English learning have been recognized by capital.
Crewkov's entrepreneurial journey is quite dramatic. In 2014, he moved to the United States with his family and was preparing to launch crowdfunding for the smart speaker project Cubic.AI, but he encountered a dimensionality reduction attack from Amazon Echo smart speaker a week before the Kickstarter event, and the project was forced to die. However, while adapting to the English environment, his daughter’s mechanical dialogue and interaction with online tutors inspired him. He decided to develop an AI conversation assistant to help children learn English, and Buddy.ai was born.
Source: Buddy.ai
Although the team has a background in voice AI technology, the R&D process of Buddy.ai has not been smooth. Since the product is aimed at children, the company needs to strictly abide by COPPA and other children's privacy protection regulations, and the development cycle is also much longer than expected by 6 months. In addition, AI systems need to understand English pronunciations from children from different language backgrounds, which puts higher demands on technology.
After seven years of development, Buddy.ai has achieved remarkable results, with a cumulative download volume of nearly 55 million times and serving more than 22 million students each year. The financing also went through negotiations with 186 investors and finally chose BITKRAFT Ventures, which is focused on the gaming field, as a partner, which coincides with most children's habit of using Buddy as a game.
The company plans to invest all its funds in product development, including recruiting game design supervisors and user experience design supervisors, and further expanding language types and deepening cooperation with the school. On the AI language education track, Buddy.ai's positioning of focusing on children's English education has enabled it to maintain its unique advantage in competition with companies such as Univerbal and Loora.
Crewkov firmly believes that the future education model will be hybrid, and AI tutors can provide strong support to teachers, especially in daily practice sessions. AI can make up for the shortage of human teachers and provide more practical opportunities for language learning. Buddy.ai's success not only demonstrates an entrepreneur's resilience to find opportunities in adversity, but also reveals the huge potential of AI education in solving practical problems.
Buddy.ai’s successful cases provide valuable experience in the field of AI education and also indicate the prospects for the wide application of AI in the education industry. I believe that more similar innovations will emerge in the future, bringing positive changes to global education.