Robotical, the edtech start-up behind Marty the robot, has today announced the completion of its £43,291 Kickstarter campaign, having set an initial target of £30,000.
Robotical also won a Global Innovators Grant from Expo 2020 Dubai last week, adding a further boost of funding to the company in the immediate wake of the Kickstarter.
The grant has been awarded by Expo Live, Expo 2020’s global partnership programme, which provides funding for innovative solutions that make the world a better place.
Marty was designed to inspire children into taking up careers in science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, by helping teachers in primary and secondary schools to make lessons in these subjects more fun.
With STEM industries currently struggling to fill an ever-widening skills gap, encouraging children to take up robotics, coding and programming from an early age has never been more important.
“Firstly, I want to thank all of our Kickstarter backers and Expo 2020 Dubai for awarding us the grant. This money will really allow us to accelerate production of Marty v2, scale up our operations and start some great new initiatives including a robotics competition. Having witnessed the joy that Marty has spread in schools, I am looking forward to seeing how pupils and teachers respond to the new features we have been working on for v2,” said Sandy Enoch, founder and CEO of Robotical.
“We hope that by making STEM subjects as engaging as possible, we can inspire children into taking up careers in these industries and plugging the skills gap in the job market. Failing to do so will have serious repercussions on the UK in the long term, so hopefully our ongoing product development will be able to help create excitement in these subjects at a young age.”
Yousuf Caires, Senior Vice President, Expo Live, Expo 2020 Dubai added: “We are delighted to support Expo Live Global Innovator Robotical, which is making learning about robotics and STEM subjects fun – helping to future proof the next generation with the education and skills required to succeed in the modern economy.
“We look forward to seeing the launch of Marty v2 which promises to further inspire and equip children with the tools they need to reach their full potential.”
The Kickstarter funding will help Robotical to finesse these new features and begin rollout of the product.