World Edtech Startup Challenge winner announced

Secret Pirates Entertainment Inc. has taken out the top prize at the 2022 World Edtech Startup Challenge.

The organisation is the creator of the Lumiii franchise, which was recognised for its new and engaging approach to convergence education.

“As an entertainment brand, the Lumiii team and I are incredibly honoured by this recognition from the global edtech community,” said Ali Badshah, CEO and Co-Founder of Secret Pirates and the creator of Lumiii.

“There is still plenty to do, and I hope our continued work in convergence and our vision for accessible entertainment, technology, finance and education will leave a lasting global impact on lives for the better.”

Finalists were judged based on how well their project aligned with UCL Edtech Labs’ mission to improve education for all. Other finalists include bitmark, Education AI, Craft Education, Hunu Teletherapy, iSchool, Numberfit, Sophia Technologies Limited and 4thewords.

“Ali and the LumiiiAcademy team should be immensely proud of having won, given this year’s startups were so strong and equally as inspiring,” said Houtan Froushan, Programme Director at UCL EdTech Labs.

“Beating an international field of edtech, from all areas of learning and teaching, goes to show how much promise Lumiii has. We look forward to seeing them grow as the inaugural World Edtech Startup Challenge winners.”

Lumiii is a tween anime brand that uses interactive storytelling, learn-to-earn gaming and DeFi to build the next generations of skilled and conscientious people. It is a 360 ecosystem with short-form and long-form narrative content, play-to-earn and learn-to-earn gaming, NFTs, AR Metaverse and family DeFi platforms, and consumer packaged goods. Lumiii incentivises users to learn the UN SDGs, Web3 essentials and the World Economic Forum's Future-Needed Job Skills, in exchange for LumiiiTokens and premium LumiiiNFT gaming products.

Image credit: iStock.com/Oat_Phawat