Chinese-Israeli Education Startup Teaches Kids to Code

LeapLearner, a Chinese-Israeli education startup, is well on its way to make a difference in children’s lives by teaching them how to code, CNBC reported.

Based in Shanghai, LeapLearner teaches programming to kids as young as 5 years old.

Children are encouraged to unwrap the world of code on their own during a three-week self-learning program, which involves exposure to games and changing the variables of the games. Once variables are understood, the children move on to natural language programming.

Once the three-week period is over, the kids meet with other LeapLearner users for a hackathon.

The main goal of the startup, however, is to give its students important life skills that will be needed in the future. Learning how to code is just the icing on the cake.

“Coding is just a tool,” CEO and LeapLearner co-founder Ami Dror told CNBC in an interview. The founding team is completed by Leo Zhao and Aaron Tian, a math tutor in China.

According to Dror, who is a fellow at the Aspen Global Leadership Network, coding can help children learn how to think out of the box, making them innovators and effective problem-solvers.

It was the case with Dror, who taught himself how to code when he was a child. Since then, Dror has become an influential figure in the programming world. As of date, he has served the security head of an Israeli prime minister and also dabbled in several consumer 3D space projects.

From its humble beginnings, LeapLearner has grown into a formidable startup with a permanent staff of approximately 50 people, Dror told CNBC. 

LeapLearner also has several influential backers on its side, including John Wu, the former Alibaba CTO, and Shane Tedjarati, the Honeywell president for Global High Growth regions.

Wu, who is one of the early stage investors, was actually the one who convinced Dror to launch the startup in China.

“[LeapLearner is] not a game--it’s an educational platform,” Dror said.