Kuato Studios, a London-based educational games developer that inspires and engages learners by capturing the excitement of learning through video games, has raised £4.5 million in a new funding round.
The round was led by Horizons Ventures, a venture capital and private equity firm based in Hong Kong.
Founded in 2011, Kuato Studios focuses on engaging children in narrative learning play. Its educational games allow children to share their tales with grown-ups, and through those tales, allow grown-ups to remember what it was to be young, and free to believe, according to the company. Kuato offers a new standard of educational games that combine high production values and pioneering learning methods with its adaptive learning platform, creating highly motivating and personalized learning experiences for every user.
Kuato has partnered with big players over the years, including Disney and Marvel, to develop educational games for children. Their London-based studio is home to talent from world-renowned games studios, AI specialists and award-winning education experts. This unique mix of skills at Kuato fosters a culture of innovation and healthy creative friction between the development and educational sides of the studio, ensuring its games find the perfect balance of learning without compromising on fun.
The latest funding will likely go to supporting the launch of the company’s first virtual reality title, Panic Room, and developing the patented technology that makes the game the first of its kind, according to a report.
With Panic Room, Kuato is introducing a new type of VR experience that it calls ‘Actor/Director’. The technology allows parents, teachers or carers to watch the child move through the game and even participate from the sidelines.
Kuato Studios believes its ‘Actor/Director’ approach elevates VR from a typically solo activity to a more interactive and shared experience. According to the report, the company plans to test out the technology now with Panic Room, and then extend it to its whole library of educational games.
The company claims that the use cases of the technology extend far beyond early education, and it could even be used as a professional training tool.
In June last year, Kuato Studios collaborated with Marvel on a new educational storytelling app called Marvel Hero Tales. The title allows users to create their own comic books while helping to develop the language and reading skills of children between ages 9 to 11.
