Pasadena Educational Tech Company Raises $4 Million for Software to Teach Kids How to Code

An educational tech company headquartered in Pasadena has raised over $4 million in seed funding to teach children how to code even before their reading and writing skills are sharpened.

CodeSpark not only developed online and web games to teach 4 to 9 year olds programming, it has designed them to engage both boys and girls equally by featuring female characters and storylines that don’t involve the classic ‘damsel in distress’ scenario, according to the LA School Report.

Grant Hosford, codeSpark’s co-founder and CEO, told TechCrunch the company’s first game has been played by 4 million kids in 201 countries so far. The game, called “The Foos,” became popular because it was designed with visual word-free interface rather than verbal or numeric one.

“A no words approach is important to us from an accessibility and localization standpoint,” Hosford said to TechCrunch. “Not only can this be played in China or the U.S., without translation, but if you are a kid with ADHD, dyslexia or some other learning difference or disability, you can play The Foos along with your classmates.”

The game not only teaches kids how to code at an early age, it also introduces key 21st century cognitive skills rooted in algorithmic thinking, pattern recognition and sequencing, according to a statement released by codeSpark.

“The Foos introduces kids to computer science concepts at a pace that ensures success,” Hosford said in the press release. “Instead of turning them off the way we have in past, The Foos opens their minds to having fun while solving problems and building their own masterpieces.”

The company makes its games available for free to public schools, libraries, and nonprofits. However, individual users — such as parents who want their kids to play the game at home — can buy and download games via iOS, Android and other web platforms, according to the statement.

Currently, codeSpark launched a premium subscription service called “codeSpark Academy” that constantly delivers games and content to paying users, according to TechCrunch. It comes with an extended version of “The Foos” which includes puzzles and exercises that let children design, program, and share their own games, much like Sony’s popular “LittleBigPlanet” series.

So far, 7 million unique games have been created by kids thus far using the extended version of the game, Hosford said.