Jordanian Edu-Tech Platform 'Little Thinking Minds' Raises Over $1 Million

The Jordan-based regional edu-tech company, Little Thinking Minds, has just raised $1.265 million in Series A funding, in a round led by Algebra Ventures with participation from Mindshift Capital and Al Turki Group.

"[This investment] will support us in expanding our product portfolio as well empowering our product platforms with data tools and analytics that will improve student learning journeys and their outcomes," says Co-founder and CEO Rama Kayyali. "We wish to capitalise on our strong traction, perfect the user journey in terms of learning outcomes and user experience, and become the educational platform and partner of choice across the region."

Little Thinking Minds is a leading education technology company that creates advanced digital solutions and platforms aimed at improving learning outcomes for school aged children in the MENA region and beyond. Kayyali and her co-founder Lamia Tabbaa started their journey in education back in 2004. "As two mothers, we grew increasingly frustrated by the lack of engaging Arabic educational products for our children at home and in schools,’ says Kayyali. "We built Little Thinking Minds [in 2005] to fix this."

At its onset, the company started producing edu-taining content as apps and videos that addressed preschool basics focusing on early literacy and numeracy. Capitalising on the knowledge and experience gained interacting in the regional educational market, the three partners started developing online Arabic literacy solutions and platforms for schools, teachers, and students.

They re-launched Little Thinking Minds as an edu-tech products provider, with a strong focus on creating comprehensive digital platforms geared towards improving learning outcomes. Catering for native and non-native Arabic speakers, the edu-tech products is currently being used by over 80,000 students in more than 200 schools across the region. The company has offices in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

"The region has a booming student population, and this has put a huge strain on traditional education systems," says Karim Hussein, Algebra Ventures Managing Partner. "Arabic literacy is increasingly important and has been largely underserved. The one-size-fits-all approach of traditional schooling is leaving many students behind. Little Thinking Minds is filling this gap and supplementing stressed education systems by providing high quality Arabic-language learning resources."