Kelly Lilles: The EdTech Disruptor on a Mission to Teach Preschoolers in 7000 Languages

In a world that speaks over 7,000 languages, how do you ensure every child has access to education in their mother tongue? This isn't a hypothetical question, but a real-life mission for Kelly Lilles, the CEO and co-founder of ALPA Kids. This spirited language aficionado isn't just dreaming of a future where all languages – even the least spoken ones – are recognized in e-learning. She's making it happen.

For Kelly, every language is a vessel for an entire culture, history, and way of seeing the world. These languages should not merely be footnotes in a linguistics textbook, but the keys to a richer, more inclusive future in digital learning.

In a world that often overlooks the lesser-spoken languages, this spirited polyglot is ensuring that every child has the opportunity to learn in their mother tongue. "Let's keep the world's wonderful language diversity," she declares.

Kelly playfully dubs herself a "language nerd," with a B.A. in Estonian Philology and an M.A. in Translation Studies to back it up. Her love for linguistic idiosyncrasies and good-natured language banter betrays an earnest passion for keeping the world's linguistic diversity vibrant and alive.

Before ALPA Kids, she was at the helm of pan-European language technology projects, mastering the art of combining technology with language, an experience she now leverages as she charts her course at ALPA Kids.

"We started ALPA Kids out of our own personal need," she reveals. After moving abroad with her young children, Kelly felt the absence of e-learning resources in her native language, Estonian - a language spoken by just over a million people worldwide.

Kelly grappled with a familiar pain point among expat families - the longing for their native language, Estonian, a mother tongue spoken by just over a million people worldwide. "Despite Estonia's high digital literacy and an education system that the OECD lauds as a powerhouse, we had no native language e-learning to offer our children," she recalls.

Her focus on less-spoken languages is a testament to the inequities that children face globally in terms of educational content. Despite the huge number of languages spoken worldwide, the lion's share of quality e-learning resources is dominated by the more popular languages. This discrepancy fuels Kelly's mission to level the playing field.

‍A unique blend of passion and pragmatism, Kelly's academic background has been pivotal to the ALPA Kids model. "My background is the foundation of our solution," she asserts, citing her translation studies and language technology experience as the pillars that support her vision. "Having a background in translation studies, I knew exactly how it should be built to be easily localizable even with customizing the learning games with the elements of each culture," she says.

Global Solutions for Local Learning

The heart of ALPA Kids beats with the rhythm of every culture it caters to, as Kelly and her team painstakingly integrate local elements such as animals, plants, and cultural symbols into their educational games. Despite the inherent complexities, Kelly is quick to point out that the localization process has become much more streamlined with custom developments. "Fortunately, early childhood education is quite standard across the globe!”

Each game is designed with a universal learning basis and then tailored to fit specific cultural contexts. It's a system that blends a global educational foundation with local customization, creating games that resonate with young learners on a personal and cultural level.

To Kelly, language diversity isn't a mere statistic or an interesting tidbit. Instead, it's a cornerstone of humanity's vibrant tapestry - a testament to the vast spectrum of experiences and perspectives that make our world rich and diverse. "Could you imagine a life in 500 years where we all look alike and speak only one language - how boring that would be!" she laughs.

Yet, beyond the notion of a homogenous future, Kelly presses on the importance of language diversity in education and access. Citing a startling statistic from UNESCO, she says, “Globally 40 percent of the population does not have access to an education in a language they speak or understand.” She believes that preserving language and culture diversity boils down to respect for others, but it's also about acknowledging that children learn best in their native language.

This realization has fueled the growth and expansion strategy of ALPA Kids. "For us, this is a huge opportunity both impact and business-wise," Kelly elaborates. By now, ALPA Kids has reached more than a million children across the globe, demonstrating the demand in the market, and impressively, they've shown they can scale quickly, opening new markets within just four weeks thanks to their custom automations.

Key to ALPA Kids' success and expansion strategy is the strong emphasis they place on working closely with local communities. "In every new market, we collaborate with the local community," Kelly says. "We always seek for local preschool teachers to help us to validate the content and to give more local context."

User feedback is gold for ALPA Kids. The team treats it with the utmost seriousness, continually refining their approach and content in response to the insights they gain from the very people they aim to serve. It's a testament to the respect and commitment that underpin Kelly’s vision: to not only cater to language diversity on a global scale, but to do so in a way that is sensitive, accurate, and rooted in the cultures of the children they reach.

Balancing Acts: Parenthood, Entrepreneurship, and Confronting Gender Bias

When it comes to juggling parenthood and entrepreneurship, Kelly is adept at spinning both roles into a dynamic ballet. The symbiotic relationship between her family life and her work at ALPA Kids is both purposeful and heartwarming. "My sons are the reason behind my startup, so without them, there would be no ALPA Kids," she says. Her sons aren't just her inspiration, they're also her toughest critics. They serve as her very own team of software testers, who she claims are "excellent in finding bugs and reporting them."

‍The connection between her parenting and entrepreneurship roles doesn't stop there. In fact, Kelly observes that being a parent can actually fuel productivity in business. "Parents are a lot more productive and focused as entrepreneurs – if we have a free hour, we can move mountains," she says.

However, for all the harmonious intertwining of her roles as a mother and CEO, Kelly is also sharply aware of the inequalities faced by women in the startup ecosystem. She addresses a sobering statistic: women-founded startups raised just 1.9% of all venture capital funds in 2022. As a female founder, Kelly has had to overcome barriers that her male counterparts often do not encounter.

"When we started, I received extremely uncomfortable questions, whether I planned any more kids and what would happen to the startup if I got divorced," she recalls, a clear reflection of the systemic bias that is often at play. But as she navigated these challenges, she learned to make her case clear to investors who might not immediately grasp the importance of e-learning content for children - a problem that is more visible to women who are often the primary caregivers.

In response to these challenges, ALPA Kids has been intentional in pursuing a diverse and gender-balanced team, as well as a cap table that mirrors these values. "In our company almost 50% of the investors are female—and this is a conscious choice," she shares.

For Kelly, the key to addressing the gender funding gap lies in amplifying the stories of successful female founders and supporting future female entrepreneurs. "I strongly believe that the situation of underfunding female founders will change in time by seeing more exceptional stories of female founders and us giving back by funding more female newcomers," she asserts. I wonder if Kelly realises she is the change she hopes to see in the industry, and that sharing her story here is perhaps a brick in that wall of change.

When discussing the Female Edtech Fellowship she was selected for, run by the European Edtech Alliance, Kelly radiates enthusiasm. The program offered her an invaluable network of like-minded founders, top-tier workshops, and the experience of a lifetime: a mid-program weekend in a chateau near Paris. The fellowship's all-female environment created a distinct and powerful dynamic. "What an opportunity to discuss the most delicate questions in private and learn from each other," she reflects. These bonds and the networks formed, Kelly believes, will serve as a springboard for future collaborations.

Shaping the Future of Education in a Fast-Paced World

When asked about the current trends in Edtech, Kelly doesn't miss a beat. The incorporation of AI in education is an "unavoidable" trend that has drawn her attention. She is aware of the public's fears regarding the rapid advancements of AI, but she draws parallels to past technological advancements that were initially met with skepticism and fear. For Kelly, AI is now akin to electricity, omnipresent and indispensable.

However, she is quick to note that while Edtech is a rapidly evolving field, the education sector often lags behind. This lag presents a complex business environment for Edtech companies working with schools, governments, or ministries. As a strategic response, Kelly shares that ALPA Kids has chosen to focus primarily on the consumer market, as it is "much more open for education innovation."

In a world that often prioritizes the majority, Kelly and her team at ALPA Kids are striving to give every child, in every language, the tools they need to grow, learn, and thrive. As she invites us to join her on this journey, it's hard not to feel inspired by her dedication and dream.

Indeed, she is not just a woman with a vision, but a woman who is steadfastly bringing that vision to life, one language at a time.

Images courtesy of: Kelly Lilles