Livares develops alphabet learning app Kiddie Doodles, offers a freemium model

Thiruvananthapuram-based Livares Technologies Pvt Ltd, a startup currently being incubated at Kochi's Startup Village, has recently launched Kiddie Doodles, an alphabet learning mobile app for kindergarten kids.

Currently available on Android platform, the app offers a learning platform to help kids learn English alphabets, as well as different writing patterns. Voice instructions are also embedded in the app to make sure that kids will get their pronunciation right. The app also has a free-draw feature that enables young children to write or draw anything they like and save those in an image format. Best of all, the company claims that this is a self-help app and kids can learn things on their own.

"Kiddie Doodles has a touch-and-draw functionality that brings a slate-and-pencil feel. The app also contains animated graphics with audio to entertain them while learning alphabets," detailed Aneesh Chandran, COO of Livares.

The company is now working on the iOS and BlackBerry versions of the app, which will be launched in a month's time, according to Chandran. "We are also eyeing the global markets, especially the NRIs, for this app," he added.

The startup was set up in 2012 by a group of seven – all holding B.Tech degrees in Computer Science from Kerala University. It is now looking to raise seed funding, which will be used for product development.

Livares follows a freemium model and users will have to pay to access full features of the app. "In free version, letters up to 'I' are available. But you need to pay $1 to for the entire alphabet and other features," Chandran told Techcircle.in "However, we have a Malayalam version of the app, which is totally free," he said.

The startup claims 3,000 downloads since its launch in March, as well as 35 paid customers. "We are also planning to launch Kiddie Doodles in 50 different local and international languages. We have developed a Russian version of the app, which will be launched very soon," said Chandran.

However, Kiddie Doodle is not the only alphabet learning app available in the market. There are quite a few apps in the same space, such as Kids ABC Letters Lite, which has more than 1 million installs so far. Compared to that, the download numbers of Livares look none too impressive but then, it is a new company just starting out.

"Our USP is that it is easy to use and it also enables kids to learn by themselves. The voiceover in the app helps kids with their pronunciation while the free draw feature provides a platform for kids to draw and save their creations," concluded Chandran.

Are you game to get your toddler a $1 app for learning English without supervision? Do you think it will really work? Do share your opinion with us in the comment space below.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)