In 2014, Ivan Crewkov moved his family from Serbia to the U.S. as his company, Cubic.AI, was set to launch a smart speaker. A week before their Kickstarter campaign, Amazon introduced the Echo, effectively overshadowing Cubic.AI’s product. “It was a disaster,” Crewkov told TechCrunch, explaining that competing with giants like Amazon and Google was impractical, ultimately leading them to sell Cubic.AI two years later.
But Crewkov’s experience served as a launching pad for his subsequent endeavor. Crewkov discovered his oldest daughter had difficulty learning English after moving to the United States. She started using an online tutor, but Crewkov soon realised the coach was using prewritten responses. Crewkov saw the potential for an AI-based solution and created Buddy.ai, an animated, conversational tutor for young English language learners. Currently available as a subscription app, Buddy.ai has collaborated with educational institutions across the globe, particularly in Brazil, to assist kids in learning English as a second language.
Buddy.ai was not a simple project to build. Understanding children’s voices in different languages and accents adds a great deal of difficulty, according to Crewkov. Extended development timeframes were additionally caused by adherence to privacy requirements such as COPPA. Nevertheless, after years of work, Buddy.ai has approximately 55 million downloads and serves over 22 million students yearly.
Buddy.ai recently won $11 million in seed money from BITKRAFT Ventures, together with contributions from One Way Ventures and Point72 Ventures. According to Crewkov, locating investors was difficult; before completing the deal, they spoke with 186 companies. Crewkov noted that BITKRAFT was especially appropriate because of its gaming skills, which complemented Buddy’s joyful learning style.
The extra financing will support product development, which will include hiring for positions in UX and game design. Crewkov hopes that Buddy.ai will grow to accommodate more languages and school collaborations, giving kids everywhere an AI-powered learning partner to enhance conventional instruction.