Former Google insiders build an AI learning app that turns children’s curiosity into… 

Sparkli app

• Sparkli app uses AI to make learning interactive and exploratory for kids.
• The app uses audio, visuals, quizzes, and games to enhance engagement and curiosity.
• Sparkli covers design thinking and financial literacy, often missed in schools.

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Big Tech companies and early-stage startups are increasingly betting on generative AI to create software and hardware for children. However, many of these products still rely heavily on text or voice-based interactions, formats that often fail to hold a child’s attention for long. Sparkli, a new AI-powered learning app, is trying to solve that problem by making learning more interactive, visual, and exploratory.

Sparkli was founded last year by Lax Poojary, Lucie Marchand, and Myn Kang, all of whom previously worked at Google. As per a report by TechCrunch, two of the founders, Poojary and Kang, are also parents, and their personal frustrations played a major role in shaping the idea behind the app. They found that while AI tools could technically answer their children’s questions, the format of those answers did not match how kids naturally learn or stay engaged.

Children, by nature, tend to ask big and often complicated questions. Explaining concepts like how rain forms or how cars work usually requires more than a block of simplified text. Poojary has said that while tools like large language models could generate age-appropriate explanations, they still felt static and uninspiring. According to him, children want to explore ideas rather than simply read about them, and that insight became the foundation for Sparkli.

Before starting Sparkli, Poojary and Kang had already worked together on multiple projects within Google’s internal startup incubator, Area 120. They co-founded Touring Bird, a travel discovery platform, and later built Shoploop, a video-focused social commerce app. Poojary went on to work across Google and YouTube shopping initiatives, while Marchand, now Sparkli’s chief technology officer, also co-founded Shoploop before continuing her career at Google. Their combined background in consumer products and experimentation influenced Sparkli’s focus on engagement rather than traditional lesson structures.

The app is designed around the idea of learning as an expedition. Instead of rigid lessons, Sparkli allows children to explore predefined topics across multiple categories or create their own learning paths by asking questions. Each day, the app highlights a new topic to encourage regular discovery and curiosity. Children can either listen to content through generated voice narration or read it on screen, depending on their preference.

Under each topic, Sparkli breaks information into chapters that combine audio, images, videos, quizzes, and simple games. One of the app’s defining features is its choose-as-you-go adventures, which allow children to make decisions and explore outcomes without the stress of being marked right or wrong. The aim is to remove performance pressure and replace it with curiosity-driven exploration.

Sparkli is also positioning itself as a way to teach subjects that formal education systems often struggle to keep up with. Beyond general knowledge, the app includes content related to design thinking, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship, areas that are increasingly relevant but rarely taught effectively at an early age. By using generative AI, Sparkli adapts these topics into experiences that feel playful rather than instructional.

With Sparkli, the founders are betting that the future of children’s learning lies not in longer explanations or smarter chatbots, but in interactive experiences that feel closer to discovery than study.