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AppyKids Means Happy to Be Learning… And Happy Ramadan

AppyKids is one of leading edutainment brands in the MENA. It proposes culturally relevant children’s content, including 14 apps (with over 1.5 million downloads!), 3 books (Arabic and English), and an Arabic cartoon series – also dubbed in English.

Educational apps present high opportunities in the MENA region today. The Dubai-based company creates content in Arabic, English, French, Hindi, and Bangla for now, but Dinesh Lalvani, CEO, seems to have his eyes on even more markets across the MENASA region.

During Ramadan, AppyKids will feature its video content daily on Google’s My Ramadan Companion hub, including a new episode of their cartoon series “The Adventures of Zee” especially for the occasion (a journey of discovery and compassion in search of the perfect recipe for Ma’amoul). AppyKids Ramadan content will also air on their on their YouTube Channel.

From Pop and Son Project to Regional Brand

After he sold his first company (Flip Media) to Publicis Group in 2012, Lalvani couldn’t find any interesting app or book to teach his son Arabic and Hindi words. So he set out to build a new app, and wrote his own code – something he had been doing since he was 12.

Seeking motivation and inspiration at home seems to be a recurring trend among developers of children’s apps. In much the same way, Badr Ward, CEO at Lamsa and father of two, started working on his interactive educational app when he couldn’t find quality educational content in Arabic for his children.

Lalvani and his team first built Eureekah, a cloud-based app development framework, and launched their first app, Appy Animals, using their own funds in July 2013.

Encouraged by this early success, investors helped the team raise a seed round of $1M, which led to the birth of Growl Media, the company behind AppyKids. In the summer of 2014, the company successfully raised an additional $2M in a second investment round.

All apps are free except for “Dress Up Zee”, an app that helps children discover new countries and cultures. The reason for the purchase is that there are new design packs for the apps every month. In addition, the company sells its books at its events, and also sells teaching aids directly to schools. These are currently AppyKids’ only 2 sources of income.

A Recipe for Success

AppyKids apps target children in 4 age groups, from infants to 9-year-olds.

One of the things that set it apart from other regional developers is the fact that it focuses its content around mascots to grow an emotional connection with its audience. The character Zee is an outgoing and energetic 6-year-old Arab girl who is inspired by the great explorer Ibn Battuta. The 4-year-old Indian boy Alfie and his pet baby elephant Haathi go on exciting adventures.

In addition to the app and books, the cartoon series “The Adventures of Zee” has helped create better brand awareness for AppyKids. The series, and its many spinoffs, air on the appykids.com platform and its YouTube and Facebook channels. “We spend our whole day creating content that is educational and fun for children,” said Lalvani.

To ensure fun and classroom friendly, AppyKids works closely with children and educational partners. “We meet with our partner teachers at least once a week, to discuss our new products and content.  We beta test our apps with children, who are our toughest critics,” said Lalvani. He said they once had to scrap an app after weeks of work because a test group of children said they didn’t like it.

The result is 300,000 active monthly users across all AppyKids’ content channels. “Zee’s Alphabet”, an introduction to the Arabic alphabet, is the company’s most popular app, while the cartoon series “The Adventures of Zee” is its most popular video content. 

Expansion Plans

AppyKids is working with Apple educators to create an iTunes-U course using their Arabic learning apps: “Zee’s Alphabet”; “Zee’s Alif Ba” for learning to write Arabic letters; and “Zee’s Arabic Words” for understanding word composition and everyday use.

Creating teaching aids was a natural extension for the brand, according to Lalvani. “Our mission is to make learning fun and that also extends to the classrooms where we can come up with innovative and exciting ways to make the curriculum engaging for children,” he said.

Recently, AppyKids launched a “Grassroots” outreach program in the UAE. To date, the team has visited over 75 schools and nurseries where they read their stories to children and engage them with activities to show teachers how to use their apps and teaching aids in the classroom. Lalvani said they will extend this program in Saudi Arabia this autumn.

Having its own app development framework (Eureekah allows AppyKids to respond to its market faster and more efficiently. “We are looking at opening up this development framework to other budding app developers in the future,” said Lalvani.

Furthermore, Lalvani is also working on securing an international broadcast deals for AppyKids’ characters. “There is a long tail for revenue as we are connecting with our audience at various touch points, but that will only work if you can build quality content that will lead to high engagement level,” he said.

AppyKids is most popular in Saudi Arabia, followed closely by Egypt, then the UAE, Iraq, and Jordan. Lalvani said they plan to increase their presence in Saudi Arabia, as well as in India.

See related: Key Insights into the MENA’s App Economy