If you’re travelling in the metro in Paris in the next few months, you may pass Apple’s latest iPad Campaign, which features Educational App producer Les Trois Elles. The French startup, which produces apps based on the Montessori educational style for English, Math, and other primary school subjects, has had quite a success both in and out of France.
With 150,000+ downloads worldwide (more than half coming from outside of France), their app Numberland is regularly featured by Apple in app stores worldwide. The startup continues to roll out in new languages, having rolled out all of their apps in German earlier this year. This bump from Apple may not directly translate into downloads, but it certainly validates the growth that they have seen since their launch.
With a founding team who’s backgrounds include a PhD in literature and to MBA grads, I think they’ve taken a great positioning bringing the Montesorri teaching style online (I was a Montesorri kid, fyi), and targeting children as an audience with their paid apps but parents through their confirmed teaching style. I’m looking forward to see them come out with new apps, and welcome any feedback from startupers with children who have tested the product. It reminds me a lot of the DragonBox – the game that tricks kids into learning Algebra by creating a cut the rope style application whose rules are that of the rules of Algebra.