Cognitii

30 million children in India and 240 million children globally have special educational needs (SEN) such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, along with neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism, intellectual disability, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), etc. SEN children often struggle in traditional classroom environments owing to the lack of tailored learning support in these schools stemming from a lack of trained educators often leading them to miss out on learning and growth opportunities in school. Because of this many SEN children end up feeling under confident, inadequate, and disinterested in school activities. Well, there are special schools that help children who learn differently, however there are too many barriers to entry for us, Indians. First and foremost, there is a grave paucity of special educators in India - there are just 120,000 registered special educators for 30 million SEN children in India. Second, special educators and other support professionals are concentrated in tier-1 Indian cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, etc, leaving tier-2, tier-3, and rural India with no alternatives for special education. Third, special needs education is unaffordable for most Indians with the median annual costs of special education going as high as INR 250,000-600,000 (USD 3000-5000) with India’s per capita income being INR 185,000 (USD 2259) - making it financially unsustainable for most poor to middle class Indians (major portion of India’s population). All these data points show that the special schooling system in India is broken with the potential of technology to make special needs education widely accessible, affordable, and personalized.

To start with, we are building a personalized AI-powered learning mobile platform for children with learning disabilities like dyslexia, dyscalculia along with developmental conditions like autism, ADHD, etc. Our product offers learners with personalized learning plans using AI which cater to their special needs by asking the parent some questions about their cognitive skills, strengths, weaknesses, and desired goal from our intervention. Based on the responses, the AI devises a learning plan for the child to build their academic (literacy and numeracy) skills, social + emotional skills, and functional skills.

Our platform has thoroughly curated games for learners to build their educational skills and our platform ensures learning outcomes by providing learners certain in-app breaks and rewards in between learning tasks to prevent overstimulation and maintain the learner’s focus and with an interactive chatbot to help the learner understand their emotions and regulate hyper emotional states through guided meditation and relaxation techniques. Cognitii offers adaptive learning programs, adjusting difficulty based on performance. 

Cognitii’s tailored support is not only restricted to the platform but we also help parents and caregivers set learning outcomes for learners through our 1-1 support with Cognitii’s in-house special educators to set actionable and achievable learning outcomes during the onboarding and at the end of each month to ensure our learner’s get the best possible special school experience which is tailored, accessible from the safety and comfort of their homes, and affordable.

To start with, our solution currently impacts the 30 million SEN children in India who are struggling with learning in traditional classrooms and are missing out on learning and growth opportunities that their neurotypical peers are getting. Now, there are special schools following the slow and expensive ways of teaching - however, there are too many barriers to entry such as the grave shortage of trained educators, inaccessibility of special schools in most parts of India except Indian metros leaving people from the former to fend for themselves with no options, and the exorbitant amounts f money parents spend to put their children through special schools - making special education inaccessible for most people it is meant for. We are building an efficient digital self-learning ecosystem designed for special needs education as an alternative to the broken special schooling system in India. 

A small percentage of the Indian population does have the privilege to afford a special needs educator, however, traditional special educators take 3-6 months to come up with a decisive learning plan Traditional special educators typically take 3-6 months to devise a learning plan, leading to delayed progress with students losing academic interest and getting disengaged and parents being dissatisfied and frustrated in these services. Each special educator has different qualifications and their own way of doing things with little to no room for quality assurance checks by third parties and the lack of a scalable and standardized experience leading to significant gaps in quality. AI helps to make the process of coming up with a learning plan faster and digital solutions like ours balance personalization with standardization of content and scaling that periodically.

Well, there are startups in this space building digital solutions to solve the problem we are solving, however, they often rely on one-sided content delivery like gamified content and performance analytics, which do not necessarily ensure learning outcomes.

1. What we know is that in special education, personalized instruction is non negotiable due to the unique abilities and needs of each student. One-sided content delivery falls short, lacking the individualized approach necessary for effective learning outcomes. To compete with traditional educators, we prioritize personalized experiences.

2. We prioritize a feedback loop that involves regular 1-1 interactions between parents and educators to discuss learning outcomes, plans, and meaningful engagement strategies. This ensures alignment and commitment from all stakeholders towards the child's progress along with performance analytics.

3. Considering the learner's emotional states is crucial for long-term success, particularly for neurodivergent children. We integrate mental wellness breaks and in-app activities to help manage emotions and maintain focus, catering to individual attention spans and emotional needs.

In this competitive market, platforms that prioritize personalized instruction, meaningful interactions, and holistic learner support will stand out and drive meaningful impact in special education.

We like to call ourselves the startup trinity of the hacker, hustler, and hipster.

 Souvik, our hacker, leads tech efforts with a background in AI research and software development at IIIT Hyderabad, Sync Labs(YC W’24) and Whilter.ai. He's a 2x founder, previously built HelpBy, an AI-powered application to combat gender-based violence in India, and brings a deep understanding of special education through non-profit work with children with autism in India and the UK. 

Falguni, our hipster, leads product and user experience, leveraging her lived experience with ADHD to empathize and create impactful learning experiences. With a previous background in founding an education startup, TeachEduCad, an online tutoring business, she started during the lockdown - her business had gained considerable traction from 250+ students of her community. 

Jhillika being the hustler of the team, leads research, customer success, biz dev, and operations. Her experience includes volunteering at special schools since the age of 17 and conducting neuroscience research at stellar labs in Emory, DBT-inStem, and Ashoka. Her background enables her to engage effectively with stakeholders, guide product research and testing, and lead customer acquisition. Her lived experience fosters empathy and enables her to effectively engage with customers, understanding their needs and ensuring our learners' success.

 We're currently testing the app build with 25 internal testers to gather feedback and improve our app's quality before launch. We have 143 parents signed up on our waitlist. Our beta is scheduled for release in the last week of April 2024 with 5+ learning modules, and the AI paradigm to personalize the learning experience. 

Apart from capital support, we believe Solve is the best place for early-stage social entrepreneurs to balance the technical and business sides of their company to ultimately become a sustainable impact business with a potential to touch a million lives. We are especially looking forward to Solve’s support and mentorship in business strategy, product-market fit, distribution, and introductions with impact investors.

Our direct competitors are startups such as Otsimo, AI Learners, and D Learners, which focus on digital solutions but often rely on one-sided content delivery like gamified content and performance analytics, which do not necessarily ensure learning outcomes. 

• What we have understood is that personalized instruction is crucial in special education, where each student has unique abilities and needs. One-sided content delivery does not ensure effective learning outcomes, as it lacks the individualized approach required in this field. To compete with traditional special educators, personalized experiences are non-negotiable. 

• We prioritize a feedback loop that involves regular 1-1 interactions between parents and educators to discuss learning outcomes, plans, and meaningful engagement strategies. This ensures alignment and commitment from all stakeholders towards the child's progress. 

• Effective long-term outcomes also require consideration of the learner's emotional states and stress levels. Neurodivergent children, in particular, are highly sensitive to external stimuli and stressors, which can affect their learning experience. We integrate mental wellness breaks and in-app activities to help learners manage their emotions and maintain focus, catering to their unique attention spans and emotional needs. 

In this competitive market, platforms that prioritize personalized instruction, meaningful interactions, and holistic learner support will stand out and drive meaningful impact in special education.

Theory of Change framework for Cognitii

Activity

1. Building a robust + accessible digital learning ecosystem for K-12 special educational needs learners.
2. Awareness + advocacy for education and inclusion of special educational needs children through our outreach initiatives + strategic partnerships + support for families through Cognitii's community immersion efforts through Cognitii Connect - our online neurodiversity support community.
3. Leveraging modern-day technology paradigms in AI + gamification and coupling them with neuroscience and education principles for efficient content delivery and learning to provide the best special school-like experience at home.
4. Inclusive education modules built on neuroscience, universal design, psychology, and education principles and distributed among individual and community stakeholders (schools, non-profits, governments) to promote accessibility and inclusion in education.
5. Deploying Cognitii in India and globally to increase access to inclusive self-learning systems.

Output

1. Efficient edtech product increasing evidence of learning outcomes in SEN children.
2. Due to effective learning, there is an increase in academic, social + emotional skills, and functional skills in SEN children.
3. Motivation in SEN children to be educated and independent is increased because of better learning alternatives being available that are not just effective, accesible, and affordable but also truly supportive.
4. Increased empathy in community stakeholders (educators, parents, education administrators, government, and general public).

Outcomes

1. Creation + implementation of policies promoting inclusive education in educational institutions + non-profits. 
2. Every SEN child has access to educational programs empowered by Cognitii - equipping them to get more meaningful work and higher education opportunities. 
3. Cognitii doing it's part in making India 100% literate in line with the New Education Policy 2020's goal of a 100% literate India by 2027 by reaching at least 1 million learners.

Long-term outcomes

1. Helping SEN children become contributing and productive members of the society. 
2. Empowering more SEN children and their families with the highest quality special education in line with the best practices in inclusive education and resources through our community immersion and initiatives at scale.
3. Employability and economic productivity for all SEN people who can become taxpayers and leaders in their chosen fields - contributing immensely to nation and community building. 

Our impact goals revolve around improving the effectiveness, efficiency, and accessibility of special education services. We aim to:

1. Enhance Learning Outcomes: We want to see measurable improvements in the academic and developmental progress of students using our solution compared to traditional methods.

2. Reduce Time and Costs: By streamlining the process of devising learning plans and providing scalable digital solutions, we aim to significantly reduce the time and financial burden on both educators and families.

3. Increase Accessibility: We strive to make quality special education services more accessible to a wider range of students, including those in remote areas or underserved communities.

To measure our progress towards these goals, we employ various metrics and methods:

- Learning Outcomes: We track student progress through standardized assessments, academic performance data, and feedback from educators and parents.
  
- Time and Cost Savings: We analyze the time and resources saved by educators in developing learning plans, as well as the cost-effectiveness of our solution compared to traditional methods.
  
- User Feedback: Gathering feedback from educators, parents, and students helps us understand the perceived impact of our solution and identify areas for improvement.
  
- Reach and Accessibility: Monitoring the adoption of our solution in different geographic regions and demographics allows us to assess our success in increasing accessibility to special education services.

By continually monitoring these metrics and adjusting our approach accordingly, we aim to achieve meaningful and sustainable impact in the field of special education.

App dev: React Native

Service suite: Google Cloud

AI personalization paradigm: Core machine learning and knowledge graphs

Additional AI features : Deep learning based image processing for certain games to track learner performance

Co-Founders: Jhillika (full-time) + Souvik and Falguni (part-time currently, joining full-time from next month)

Part-Time Staff: 5 (2 core team members + 2 interns)

Since July 2023 - 10 months now.

Our company is all about embracing diversity from our problem statement to the solution we are building to the culture we have built in our team. As co-founders of the company we are building - we bring in a diversity in our professional backgrounds, ideas, thoughts, cultures, and our cognitive diversity. Jhillika and Falguni are neurodivergent women founders holding a leadership position at an education technology startup is indicative of the fact that we don't only preach our vision, we live it, our vision is to make neurodivergent children and teenagers contributing members of the society and through our work - we live our vision each day. The average age of our team is 24, with the youngest member as young as 19 years old and the eldest member being 30. Our founding team is women-led with 2 of 3 co-founders being women and our senior leadership has another woman CXO - our chief learning officer. Our culture is centred on meritocracy, empathy, and mutual respect for differences and we don't care about where our team members come from in terms of their race, gender, sexual orientation, neurological diversity, or medical history, we genuinely care about working with kind and intelligent people who are mission-driven and growth-oriented people.

Our primary revenue source is tiered monthly subscriptions to users starting from $15-$25. The tiered plans start from a free plan which provides access to learners to some of our learning games and two paid tiers with a plus plan including personalization, full access to the learning games, an-ad free learning experience, and advanced weekly analytics from $15-20 and a pro plan at $25 offers 1-1 goal setting and monthly progress tracking with our special educators. These tiered subscription plans cater to varying user needs and budgets, allowing users to choose the plan that best suits their requirements and preferences.We will start by giving our users a 15 days free trial to introduce them to Cognitii’s learning ecosystem and then charging our users. In India only, there are 30 million children who have special learning needs and the number will keep increasing every year with rise in the incidence of neurodevelopmental conditions in children. If we look at the TAM in India itself, there are 30 million children and an average annual revenue of $240 (average monthly revenue/user=$20) from each user, giving us a total addressable market of $7.2 billion which presents a massive opportunity. In our first year from launch, we aim to reach 10,000 learners in Indian metros owing to higher disposable income, more awareness about learning disabilities and our proximity and networks in those markets which gives us a projected ARR of $2.4 (20*12*10,000) million in our first year. Our aim is to reach 1 million paid learners in India in the next 5-7 years which gives us a projected ARR of $240 million (20*12*1 million). Other revenue sources include showing ads to free users as these ads can be a significant source of revenue as they reach millions of users who prefer not to pay for the premium subscription.

Our approach to financial sustainability for now will include a combination of raising money through grants, selling subscriptions of our learning ecosystem (which is our primary source of revenue) in a B2C model, running ads on our ecosystem in case people don't wish to buy the premium subscription plans, and raising venture capital ultimately because we believe that the best way to make a billion is to build for a billion and venture capital has been a great enabler for people with no pedigree - underdogs like us to build unicorns, lead change for our communities, and be a master of our own fate. In future, we definitely intend to partner with large corporations through their Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives and partner with government agencies to ensure that our solution reaches to everyone from cities to the grassroots. We will start our fundraising initiatives from the mid of May post the first phase of our pilot with user metrics and indexing key performance indicators like DAUs, MAUs, NPS.