For Bardh Kadiu, the creation of edtech startup KidsDay was born out of necessity, and this became evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, one of the other co-founders of the startup, Brikena Krasniqi, operated a daycare, but due to pandemic restrictions, parents could not enter its premises. This has created additional challenges for all parties involved – children, parents and educators.
“As a result, all day-to-day communications were either done in front of the daycare or via reports displayed at the entrance, seriously compromising the confidentiality of each child’s personal information. In response to this challenge, we began discussions on how to solve this problem, which ultimately led to the idea of creating an app designed to improve parent-teacher communication and much more,” Kadiu, who more than a decade of experience as a founder of his previous startup CODA.TECH, tells The Recursive.
Together, Kadiu and Krasniqi combined their experience in the tech industry and daycare management, and with the help of their third co-founder Getoar Kastrati, who is the CTO and Teach Lead, created Children’s Day – an app that helps kindergartens and daycare centers streamline their operations.
Nowadays, the administration of several kindergartens and daycare centers in Kosovo uses KidsDay to monitor the performance of its educators and have accurate insight into children’s activities and participation at any time, says Kadiu.
Additionally, the app allows educators to facilitate classroom management and generate personalized reports for each child on daily activities, which are provided to parents at the end of each day.
“The idea is to change the way we educate and welcome early childhood. A big part of this is using data and AI to understand how kids are doing and help teachers make better choices. AI can also offer children more online learning resources and help daycares operate more smoothly. There are many possibilities! he told The Recursive.
Disrupting the traditional way of managing nursery schools in the Balkans
This month, the Kosovo-based startup also received its first strategic investment from Finnish Schools International (FSI), a network of schools using the Finnish education system, and Berlin-based Highlight Ventures.
The German venture capital will support KidsDay in its global go-to-market strategy and enhance its AI-driven, user-centric digital platform, while FSI will provide expertise in developing the platform’s learning and development features.
The goal, as they emphasize together, is to “position KidsDay as the go-to AI-based platform for learning, communication and management in the early childhood sector.”
According to Alejtin Berisha of Finnish Schools International, KidsDay has the potential to disrupt the traditional way preschools are run in the Balkans.
“Daycare centers and preschools are a relatively new concept in the Balkans and most daycare centers are still run in a traditional way. I think KidsDay will strongly disrupt this trend, first in the Balkans and later worldwide,” Berisha told The Recursive.
By integrating cutting-edge technology, KidsDay aims to revolutionize early childhood education by delivering three essential elements: firstly, the digitalization of daycare and nursery management, thereby improving overall efficiency, productivity and profitability. Second, the introduction of daily reports to parents promotes better communication, increases parental participation and reduces teacher workload.
However, the most crucial aspect, highlighted by Berisha, is the major advancement in learning and development facilitated by AI. With KidsDay, teachers can now create personalized learning journeys for each child, ensuring a tailored educational experience that meets the unique needs of each young learner.
The company itself plans to use this investment to further develop its app with AI features and reach one million parent users over the next two years. “The investment and support received from Finnish School International and Highlight Ventures will be strategically directed towards the integration of artificial intelligence into our application, with the primary aim of advancing and enriching the education field of early childhood,” Kadiu said.
So far, the region has seen the development of similar solutions such as the Romanian platform Kinderpedia and Bulgarian edtech startup Shkolo.bg. Kadriu also expects the development of trends such as playful learning through technology and options for parents to also participate in the process.
“We will see a greater focus on including all kinds of children and taking their feelings into account. Being eco-friendly will be more common and parents will be more connected through technology. Safety and cleanliness will remain very important. Teachers will use data to help children learn better, and they will continue to learn how to teach. Schools and daycares will also become more interesting for children to explore and learn. » concludes Kadiu.