One-line solution summary:
ChatClass is a Conversational Learning platform on WhatsApp, focused on upskilling workers.
Pitch your solution.
ChatClass is committed to solving the massive global skills gap and providing quality and engaging corporate training. We focus on the deskless workforce: 2.8 billion people that don’t sit on a desk to do their job. Our solution is a complete and automated conversational learning platform. Users access interactive courses via WhatsApp, with voice and text messages, learner rankings, and social learning opportunities. On the other hand, managers can track their progress and outcomes and receive dashboards with all the data we collect and filter. In 2020, Facebook recognized ChatClass as the only global success case for education via WhatsApp (https://www.facebook.com/busin...). If scaled globally, we could offer quality education to billions of people who work away from the office and are unattended by conventional training programs. The solution will improve workers’ results and engagement rates and also allow future economic opportunities.
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
The problem we are solving is the global skills gap. A massive number of workers lack the skills required for their functions. Today, 62% of all employees feel personally affected by this problem. With the advancement of AI and automation, the skills needed are also constantly changing. Globally, 87% of executives are experiencing or expecting changes in the skills demanded. According to the World Economic Forum, closing this gap could add US$ 11.5 trillion to the global GDP until 2028. Our focus is on the deskless workforce: people who work away from the office. In our country, Brazil, more than 80% of the workers have this condition. Globally, 2.8 billion people. For most of them, conventional LMS systems do not work and have low engagement rates; because they are away from the office and have limited connectivity. Training methods such as dense PDFs also do not bring good results. The inability to effectively train their workers affects companies' results.
What is your solution?
Our solution is a complete and automated Conversational Learning platform. Our users access interactive courses via WhatsApp and receive voice and text messages, images, and videos. They interact through text and audio messages. Students can see learner rankings and have social learning opportunities. They also receive daily reminder messages and complete the course with digestible learning pills. The WhatsApp courses are personalized, made based on the content the company wishes to offer. Managers use the web platform to edit classes and see results. They also receive constant reports to track learner's progress. We developed a full-stack platform in React Native, so now we have a complete platform; with App, bot, and site. Our ChatBot uses natural language processing and artificial Intelligence, providing automated answers to learners, even for voice messages.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
We focus on serving the deskless workforce, 80% of the global workforce. They are affected by the skills gap. and are also the hardest to reach, having almost no access to corporate training. Our WhatsApp courses are accessible for people who work in the field without a computer. We also constantly collect feedback from these users, to improve the quality of our product. Our easy language and daily learning pills can make training more accessible. The knowledge they receive will improve their performance at their current jobs, but can also help them for future opportunities.
Which dimension of the TPrize Challenge does your solution most closely address?
Design, create, and implement new educational or training models for educators and students that guarantee access to quality education in low connectivity environmentsExplain how the problem you are addressing, the solution you have designed, and the population you are serving align with the TPrize Challenge.
ChatClass created and implemented a new training method; to provide quality education in a different but accessible and effective way. WhatsApp is an untapped channel for learning, and 99% of Latam phones have WhatsApp installed. The use of data for WhatsApp is free from all Telecommunication Companies. Access to WhatsApp doesn't require high connectivity compared to video streaming platforms, so it is accessible to more people. It allows access to quality education for a massive number of field workers. Our product also offers content on hard and soft skills required by companies, preparing for future demands.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
São Paulo, SP, BrasilWhat is your solution’s stage of development?
Growth: An organization with an established product, service, or business model rolled out in one or, ideally, several communities, which is poised for further growth.Explain why you selected this stage of development for your solution.
We already have an established product and business model, but we are still improving our product to prepare for a Sacle-up phase. We are enhancing our technology and building a self-service platform, where companies can automatically create their courses. We have more than 30 B2B clients and are expanding mainly in Brazil. We are also working on discovering which use cases of our product can offer more value to our clients.
Who is the Team Lead for your solution?
Jan Krutzinna
If you have additional video content that explains your solution, provide a YouTube or Vimeo link here:
Which of the following categories best describes your solution?
A new application of an existing technologyWhat makes your solution innovative?
The most innovative aspect of our solution is the use of WhatsApp as a platform for corporate training of the deskless workforce. The App is accessible and popular, mainly in LatAm, so the courses can be accessed from wherever the worker is. It also provides the conversational aspect to learning, because learners interact by chatting with our Bot. We also believe in learning by daily pills, instead of dense punctual training, and our WhatsApp Bot can provide that. As mentioned earlier, we were recognized as a success for education via WhatsApp. We also believe our solution doesn't exclusively depend on WhatsApp and can be easily adapted to Apps with the same purpose such as Instagram, Telegram, and Slack. This will allow us to expand in countries where WhatsApp is not that popular.
Describe the core technology that powers your solution.
In terms of technology, the core of our solution is the ChatBot that is integrated into WhatsApp API. We use natural language processing and AI to interact with the users, and can even recognize voice input and send automated feedback. Our software also uses data analytics to send reports on learners' progress to managers.
Provide evidence that this technology works. Please cite your sources.
This video is one of our course demos and shows a user interacting with our ChatBot
Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:
Does this technology introduce any risks? How are you addressing or mitigating these risks in your solution?
The only risks involved in our solution are related to data security and privacy. We follow all laws and regulations regarding data privacy.
Select the key characteristics of your target population.
In which countries will you be operating within the next year?
In which countries do you currently operate?
How many people does your solution currently serve? How many will it serve in one year? In five years?
Our solution has already served 500.000 people; that have accessed at least one of our courses or used our platform as a student or a teacher. We are trying to achieve more than a million people in a year and five million after five years.
What are your impact goals for the next year and the next five years, and -- importantly -- how will you achieve them?
We believe that our solution has to scale and impact millions of people, but also has to deliver an engaging and quality learning experience for everyone. We are trying to achieve 1 million impacted people in 1 year and 5 million in five years, but maintain engagement rates above 50%. We will achieve it by increasing the number of clients not only in Brazil but expanding internationally. Our Self-Service course creation platform will help companies to create courses easily. We also need to focus on offering content in a digestible manner, and we will hire experts in the area of corporate training, content, and education.
How are you measuring your progress toward your impact goals?
Our main metrics used to measure impact are the number of people who access and complete our courses, learners' engagement rates, and Net Promotor Score (NPS).
What type of organization is your solution team?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
How many people work on your solution team?
28 total: 8 part time and 20 full time.
How long have you been working on your solution?
7 years
How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?
Our team is built by experienced employees that have worked mainly in the areas of technology and education, and since the beginning, we are focused on building a strong and healthy culture. Our Management Team is composed of: Jan Krutzinna, CEO, Harvard Computer Scientist, Ex-UN, and ex-McKinsey. Amaral Medeiros, Head of Growth, USP engineer. Leonardo Lana, CTO, with experience in various technology companies. Chloe Bellows, Pedagogy Lead, Graduated at Columbia University and ex-US Department of State. Sergio Agudo, COO, with experience in education companies such as Udemy.
What is your approach to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive leadership team?
Our leadership team has an extremely diverse background, and complementary skills and knowledge. We are based in Brazil but have a German and an American in our Management Team. This origin diversity is also extremely reflected on our team. We have a woman on our Management team and are constantly working on bringing gender and racial diversity for our Team.
Do you primarily provide products or services directly to individuals, to other organizations, or to the government?
Organizations (B2B)Why are you applying to the 2021 TPrize Challenge?
We are applying to TPrize Challenge because it is one of the globally recognized competitions for LatAm Startups. Apart from recognition, we believe that TPrize could help us with recruiting and HR challenges, helping us to build a strong, motivated, and diverse team. We also would need technical help, to build a software that is scalable and supports millions of users.
In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?
Please explain in more detail here.
Apart from the recognition in prize money, we think that a mentorship provided by TPrize would be extremely important to help us with our growth strategy, and deciding which are the most important use cases and markets for our solution. Also, because our model is B2B, networking is extremely important to expand our client portfolio.
Solution Team
to Top
Solution Name:
ChatClass