Pakistani startup for children with special needs selected by Google, UNICEF for investment

Pakistani startup for children with special needs selected by Google, UNICEF for investment

Pakistani startup WonderTree has been chosen by UNICEF Innovative Fund 2020. WonderTree has invented Augmented Reality (AR) games to pace up the education and development of motor and cognitive skills for children with special needs.

The idea was propounded by Muhammad Usman, WonderTree’s Chief Technical Officer, whose older brother - diagnosed with Down syndrome - enjoyed learning through games. The startup began with just three team members and founders Muhammad Waqas and Muhammad Usman hope to make quality education and physiotherapy both accessible and easily affordable.

“Our inclusive and unique approach of using motion-based games as an assistive tool makes the learning process fun and exciting for children. Parents and teachers also have access to an online psychometric dashboard to track and measure the progress of the child,” WonderTree said in a statement.

“With UNICEF’s Innovation Fund, we are hoping to enhance our technological infrastructure and scale our solution to populations with limited access to quality learning. Over the next year, we will focus on creating an optimal experience for the end user, reduce the computing requirements to run our games, and test the technology with the data gathered through this program.”

The startup hopes to use this opportunity with UNICEF as a stepping stone to go global and impact millions of children worldwide.

Karachi-based WonderTree was also selected by Google for its accelerator program on Sustainable Development Goals which will allow the founder to work closely with engineers from over 20 Google teams and other subject matter experts to address product, engineering, business development, and funding challenges. Since this accelerator is focused on sustainability, founders will learn these skills through the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals and relevant partners.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10th, 2020