CEO Samson Opaleye used to spend six hours a day on Instagram in his mid 30s.
Fast forward a couple of years and he now has over 6,000 active users on his EdTech platform – which helps to curb smartphone addiction.
Opaleye set up Sheffield-based Applatch in 2023 with co-founder Aliyu Odumosu after realising that most children wouldn’t have the level of self-control that he did to put an end to his excessive screen time.
The startup recently completed Baltic Ventures’ latest accelerator programme and pitched at January’s demo day in search of £250,000 in seed funding.
Explaining how the idea for the business came about Opaleye said: “I found out that six out of 10 children do not have interest in studying as they now prioritise their entertainment screen time over studying both offline and online.
“It’s a concern for most parents, including myself as the dad of a four-year-old.
“My daughter always wants to watch YouTube Kids content on her tablet and asks for more entertainment screentime over engaging with her number blocks or honing her phonics.
“You might be wondering why my daughter has a tablet at such a young age – it’s the same reason millions of other parents globally get our children computing devices early enough: we want to introduce them to technology early, as we are in a fast evolving digital age and tech savvy-parents want their children to be early adopters of technology.”
Nigerian-born Opaleye is looking to create awareness and reach Applatch’s target audience in both the UK and Africa market.
He says the seed investment will help it expand to the US market, where the company is already gaining traction.
He added: “We are raising £250k pre-seed funding which will help us further develop our product.
“We have some exciting features in the pipeline which will help children enjoy fun learning experiences with guidance of artificial intelligence for effective learning.”
The app supports children’s academic growth by requiring them to pass educational quizzes before unlocking entertainment apps.
Parents install the app on their children’s tablets or smartphones, locking entertainment apps throughout the day.
To unlock these apps, children must complete quizzes, with a passing score granting one hour of access, up to a maximum of three hours per day.
With the recent news that Australia has banned social media use for under 16s, the phone and tablet usage of young people is clearly becoming a global concern.
Opaleye is in favour of the ban but is concerned about children’s addictions just passing over to mobile games.
“I personally think that the ban is a good idea as children are being exposed to inappropriate content at such a young age,” he explained.
“But policy makers globally need to be aware that when social media is banned, children move their addiction to mobile games, which fuels their interest for more fun time and little to no interest for education.
“Will banning games be the solution? No. The solution for game addiction for under 13s is to balance screen time – a little bit of games and a little bit of learning.
“A well executed, gamified EdTech app will solve this problem and this is why Applatch Kids is gaining popularity and organic traction at this early stage.”
On being included in the Baltic Ventures cohort, Opaleye said: “The Baltic team are amazing at supporting founders, helping us have a laser-focused approach in iterating the product-led solution and having the perfect pitch to get investment.
“On top of the investment of £30,000, we had hands-on support from experienced advisors in the technology and marketing industry.
“Our growth and approach to understanding our data is all thanks to Baltic Ventures.”
The company’s vision is to nurture a world where children learn before they play on any computing device using Applatch Kids.
