Scandinavia’s leading learn to read app Poio sold to Kahoot

Poio, a game based learning to read program founded in 2016 that has become Scandinavia’s number one tablet based literacy application, has been sold to fellow Norwegian company Kahoot!, a specialist in game based learning platforms.

It is the second learning application Kahoot! has purchased this month, having bought DragonBox, also a Norwegian company, that specialises in maths based learning applications.  

The Poio app, features a troll, named Poio, that needs the help of the reader to decipher a storybook that he has stolen from a group of letter bugs called Readlings. The Readlings introduce letters, words and a story in a coherent but fantastical world that unfolds scene by scene.

The program is the brainchild of Daniel Senn, an educator and father, who, with the help of his two young children, one of which was born with a severe hearing problem that expert said would need additional assistance to keep up with other children, set about building an application that “cracked the reading code.”

The approach to design was very Scandanavian centric with an emphasis on boosting self esteem and gaining children’s attention and respect as supposed to just digitising the experience.

The game, launched in 2016, has been a runaway success with over 100,000 children being helped on their literary journey.

Kahoot! is a game based learning platform that is used as an educational resource in schools. The business was originally designed as a social learning tool, with students gathered around a common screen such as an interactive whiteboard to engage. The programs can now be accessed through web browsers and mobile devices.

With the acquisition of Poio and DragonBox, Kahoot! has cemented its position as the leading literacy and numeracy learning application platform in Scandinavia.

Information about Poio and DragonBox are available here and here.

Information about Kahoot! is available here.