ARUKAY

What makes your solution innovative?

Arukay's solution stands out as innovative in the educational technology landscape by strategically adapting to the unique dynamics of the Latin American market. Unlike many EdTech solutions that focus on direct-to-consumer (B2C) models prevalent in regions like Asia, Arukay has recognized the critical role of institutions in the education of children in Latin America. Here’s a detailed breakdown of how Arukay's approach is reshaping the educational ecosystem:

Institutional Focus and Adaptation

1. Leveraging Institutional Trust: Understanding that in Latin America, unlike Asia, parents predominantly trust educational institutions with their children’s learning, Arukay has smartly positioned its model to work directly with schools (B2B). This approach not only aligns with regional cultural norms but also ensures that Arukay’s solutions reach students during their most formative hours spent within the educational system.

2. Customizable and Responsive Curriculum: Arukay differentiates itself by offering a flexible curriculum that adapts to the specific needs of each school it partners with. This adaptability ensures that regardless of varying educational standards, resources, or student demographics, Arukay’s learning system can be seamlessly integrated and utilized effectively.                                                                                

 Addressing Core Educational Challenges

Comprehensive Solution Offering: Arukay’s innovation extends to its comprehensive approach to the three main pain points identified in educational institutions:

• Content: Development of a robust, grade-specific curriculum that begins with foundational computer science concepts and progresses to advanced programming skills.
• Teacher Training: Providing extensive training for teachers, which supports even those without prior digital skills knowledge. This training ensures that teachers are not only facilitators but also active learners and adapters of technology in education.
• Measurement: Utilizing advanced reporting algorithms and analytics to monitor student progress and adapt learning strategies accordingly. This data-driven approach helps schools measure impact precisely and make informed decisions.
• Sustainability and Scalability

1. Teacher Agnostic System: One of Arukay’s most innovative features is its teacher-agnostic system. If a teacher leaves, the incoming educator can pick up exactly where the previous one left off, thanks to thorough training and a well-documented curriculum path. This feature greatly reduces disruptions in the learning process and maintains continuity for students.

2. Continuous Improvement: Arukay’s platform evolves based on extensive data collected from thousands of students who use the system. Feedback mechanisms are integrated into every aspect of the curriculum, ensuring that the learning environment continuously improves and adapts to better meet the needs of students and teachers.

Broader Impact and Market Change

Arukay's innovative approach not only enhances the quality of education but also sets a new standard for how educational technology can be implemented in schools across Latin America. By addressing the specific needs and cultural context of Latin American educational institutions, Arukay could catalyze a shift in the market from a focus on individual consumer-based models to more holistic, institutionally integrated solutions. This shift has the potential to dramatically increase the reach and efficacy of educational technologies in the region, encouraging other companies to adopt similar approaches and thereby multiplying the positive impact on the education system.

Describe in simple terms how and why you expect your solution to have an impact on the problem.

Arukay's theory of change is predicated on the integration of rigorous academic methods and innovative teaching techniques to fundamentally enhance digital skills, computational thinking, and coding education in Latin America. Here’s how Arukay expects its solution to impact the problem, illustrated through a logical framework connecting activities, outputs, and outcomes:

Activities

1. Conducting a Rigorous Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT): In collaboration with prestigious institutions—Columbia University, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Fundación Luker—Arukay is undertaking its first randomized experiment involving approximately 6,000 students. This study aims to test not only the effectiveness of Arukay's learning system in teaching digital skills, computational thinking, and coding but also to determine which teaching schema—competitive or collaborative—is more effective.

2. Implementing Adaptive Assessments: Arukay has developed a sophisticated adaptive evaluation system with a response bank of over 5,000 options tagged to both STEAM and coding skills. This allows for meticulous tracking of each student’s academic performance.

3. Incorporating Divergent and Convergent Thinking: After a decade of experience in the region, Arukay integrates both convergent thinking, which involves data-driven decision-making through multiple-choice evaluations, and divergent thinking, which promotes soft skills like collaboration, empathy, and co-creation.

4. European Academic Partnerships: Partnerships with Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and five other European universities enable the use of their measurement mechanisms to validate Arukay’s theory of change.

Outputs

• Enhanced Learning Outcomes: Immediate outputs include improved proficiency in digital skills, computational thinking, and coding among students participating in the study.
• Academic Performance Data: The implementation of adaptive assessments provides real-time data on student performance, facilitating tailored instructional adjustments.
• Soft Skills Development: Through divergent thinking methodologies, students develop crucial soft skills that are increasingly recognized as essential in the modern workforce.

Outcomes

• Long-Term Educational Impact: Over the long term, Arukay’s approach is expected to lead to higher enrollment rates in STEAM careers among graduates, particularly among women, helping to close the gender digital divide.
• Evidence-Based Improvements: The insights gained from the RCT and ongoing assessments will inform further enhancements to Arukay’s curriculum and teaching methods, ensuring that they remain cutting-edge and effective.
• Scalability and Replication: With proven success, Arukay’s model can be scaled and replicated across other regions, potentially transforming the educational landscape in terms of digital education.

Evidence Supporting the Links

• Third-Party Research and Collaboration: The involvement of renowned educational and research institutions in Arukay's experimental study lends significant credibility and provides empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness of its educational models.
• Data from Adaptative Assessments: The extensive data collected from adaptive assessments offers concrete evidence of improvements in student capabilities and performance.
• Feedback from Educational Partnerships: Collaborations with European universities help validate the outcomes through established educational metrics, ensuring the interventions are grounded in proven academic research and methodologies.

In conclusion, Arukay's innovative approach, underpinned by solid research partnerships and advanced pedagogical practices, forms a robust theory of change that anticipates significant improvements in educational outcomes for Latin American students, particularly in digital skills and computational thinking.

What are your impact goals for your solution and how are you measuring your progress towards them?

Arukay is committed to making a significant and measurable impact on the lives of students in Latin America by enhancing their digital, AI and coding skills. Our impact goals focus on ensuring students acquire essential competencies through our educational platform, preparing them for future academic and professional challenges. We use a multi-level measurement approach to track our progress towards these goals.

Impact Goals

1. Skill Acquisition and Competency: Our primary goal is to ensure students not only learn but master the skills and competencies related to digital skills and coding. We aim for students to apply these skills in practical, real-world settings, thereby improving their career readiness and potential for future success in technology-driven fields.

2. Promotion of Divergent Thinking: We seek to foster soft skills such as co-creation, collaboration, and empathy, essential for the holistic development of students and crucial for their success in diverse team environments. 

3. Encouraging Gender Equity in STEAM: A specific goal is to reduce the gender gap in STEAM fields by encouraging more female students to pursue these careers, leveraging our platform to create a more inclusive educational environment.

Measurement Approaches

Level 1: In-Platform Assessment

• Convergent Assessments: Each lesson includes quizzes and tests with immediate feedback. If an answer is correct, the platform congratulates the student and reinforces the concept. If incorrect, it explains why, enhancing learning over grading. Teachers can issue new sets of questions indefinitely, prioritizing comprehension over scores.
• Divergent Assessments: Students apply their learning in a sandbox environment, creating solutions using programming blocks. This approach not only tests their technical skills but also evaluates their soft skills in real-time. Classroom analytics allow teachers to tailor instruction, pairing students based on strengths and weaknesses to foster peer learning.

Level 2: Arukay's Direct Evaluation

• Triannual Reviews: Evaluations conducted at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year assess our curriculum's alignment with our theory of change. These reviews are critical for suggesting adjustments to schools and ensuring our educational goals are being met.

Level 3: Randomized Control Trials

• Pedagogical Testing: We conduct control and treatment group studies to determine the most effective teaching methodologies, whether competitive or collaborative. This research helps us refine our approach to maximize learning outcomes.

Level 4: Programming Tournaments

• Practical Application: Students participate in programming tournaments at school, national, and international levels. These competitions test the skills learned and provide real-world applications for coding and computational thinking.

Evidence of Sucess

Our systematic approach to assessment and adaptation has shown promising results:

• Feedback and Adjustments: Real-time classroom analytics have enabled personalized instruction, significantly improving individual student performance.
• External Validation: Participation and success in coding tournaments serve as a practical benchmark for the effectiveness of our training.
• Research Collaboration: Our ongoing randomized experiments and collaborations with reputable academic institutions provide empirical evidence supporting our methodologies.

In conclusion, Arukay's impact is measured through detailed, systematic evaluations that not only track academic proficiency but also the development of crucial soft skills and gender inclusivity in digital education.

Describe the core technology that powers your solution.

The core technology that powers our solution at Arukay, accessible via www.arukay.com and app.arukay.com is a combination of Angular and Firebase. These technologies work synergistically to deliver a dynamic, secure, and scalable user experience.

Angular: Angular is an open-source web application framework led by Google, designed to build dynamic single-page applications (SPAs). It employs a modular architecture with reusable components, which simplifies the creation and maintenance of complex user interfaces. Angular's component-based architecture not only enhances the development process but also facilitates rapid iteration and a smooth user experience, ensuring our platform remains efficient and responsive to user interactions.

Firebase: Firebase, another Google-developed platform, supports mobile and web application development. It provides a suite of cloud services designed to eliminate the need to manage backend infrastructure, thus accelerating development and scalability. Key Firebase services utilized in our solution include:

1. Firestore: A NoSQL database that offers real-time data storage and synchronization across client and server. Firestore is highly scalable and ensures that data is consistently synchronized, providing users with the most current information without delay.

2. Authentication: This service handles user authentication securely. Firebase Authentication supports email and password login, along with sign-in options via external providers like Google, Facebook, and Twitter, ensuring a broad accessibility and security for user accounts.

3. Hosting: Firebase Hosting allows for the rapid and secure deployment of static web applications. It features free SSL, a global CDN, and automatic scaling, guaranteeing optimal performance and high availability for our users.

4. Storage: A cloud storage solution that enables secure file uploads and downloads. Firebase Storage integrates seamlessly with other Firebase services, making it easy for users to access and manage files within the application.

Integration and Impact: The integration of Angular and Firebase allows Arukay to develop and maintain a modern, robust web platform. Angular ensures a dynamic and responsive user interface, while Firebase provides a reliable, scalable infrastructure to support our operations. Together, these technologies allow us to deliver an exceptional user experience while simplifying the development and management of our application.

This technological foundation is crucial not just for operational efficiency but also for fostering innovation in education technology. By utilizing cutting-edge tools and platforms, Arukay can continually adapt and respond to the evolving educational needs of schools and students. Moreover, the scalability enabled by our tech stack means that we can easily expand our reach and impact, potentially benefiting more students and educational institutions worldwide. Thus, our solution not only addresses immediate educational challenges but also sets the stage for long-term positive changes in the global educational landscape.

Which of the following categories best describes your solution?

A new business model or process that relies on technology to be successful

Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:

• Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning
• Software and Mobile Applications
• Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality

If your solution has a website or an app, provide the links here:

www.arukay.com, app.arukay.com, (IG) @arukay_coders, https://www.linkedIn.com/company/arukay/

In which countries do you currently operate?

• Bolivia
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador
• Guatemala
• Mexico
• Panama
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Venezuela, RB

Which, if any, additional countries will you be operating in within the next year?

• Brazil

How many people work on your solution team?

Our team comprises 38 members, structured to include 26 full-time employees (24 on indefinite-term contracts and 2 under a SENA apprenticeship contract), along with 12 individuals engaged via service contracts.

How long have you been working on your solution?

Arukay was founded nearly 10 years ago, during which we have iterated through three different educational models. The current model, the Curricular Learning System, has been in place for 6 yeas now, successfully engaging over 66,000 students weekly. This model represents our latest and most refined approach to education, continuously evolving to meet the needs of our diverse student population.

Tell us about how you ensure that your team is diverse, minimizes barriers to opportunity for staff, and provides a welcoming and inclusive environment for all team members.

Building on the foundation of our DEI initiatives, our team comprises 38 members, structured to include 26 full-time employees (24 on indefinite-term contracts and 2 under a SENA apprenticeship contract), along with 12 individuals engaged via service contracts. At Arukay, we champion equity and equal opportunities, welcoming team members without discrimination based on gender, religion, race, physical condition, or political beliefs. Our ethical principles of truthfulness, respect, and loyalty have guided us in creating a robust team aligned with our corporate values.

Throughout Arukay’s expansion, our commitment to diversity and inclusion has been clearly demonstrated not only in our hiring practices but also in our support for various social identities and backgrounds. Currently, our team robustly exemplifies gender inclusivity, with 25 of our 38 employees, or approximately 65.78%, being women. This statistic is particularly significant as it underscores our dedication to "walking the talk," especially in our efforts to close the digital gender gap in technology and education.

Our team's diversity extends beyond gender. We have actively included African-Colombian members and individuals from varied religious and socio-economic backgrounds, as well as diverse academic fields. This rich tapestry of perspectives enhances our collaborative environment and innovation capacity.

Moreover, our commitment to supporting all team members is highlighted by our approach to gender identity. In the past, our team has included two transgender individuals—one transitioning from woman to man and another from man to woman—reflecting our ongoing commitment to creating an environment that respects and supports each person’s identity journey.

At Arukay, fostering a respectful and inclusive workplace is not just a policy but a practice that we live daily, reinforcing our resolve to bridge gender disparities in the tech industry and beyond

Actions to Promote Inclusion and Support:

1. Training and Development: We continue to offer training sessions focused on respect, tolerance, and leadership to reinforce our commitment to an inclusive workplace.
2. Human Resources Support: A dedicated HR channel offers psychosocial support, ensuring that all team members feel supported and that barriers to full participation are minimized.

Objective Enhancements: Our objective at Arukay is to continue fostering inclusion and providing the necessary support to ensure a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive team. We measure our success not only through diversity statistics but also by the quality of our workplace environment and the personal well-being of our staff. This approach has allowed us to maintain a workplace that safeguards the personal dignity of each worker, respects their beliefs and feelings, and rejects any form of discrimination.

In conclusion, our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion at Arukay is embedded in every layer of our operations. By maintaining an open, respectful, and supportive work environment, we ensure that all team members, regardless of their background or personal characteristics, are valued, supported, and given equal opportunities to succeed. This dedication not only aligns with MIT Solve’s DEI commitment but also strengthens our organizational culture and enhances our competitive edge in the global marketplace.

What is your business model?

Value Proposition

Comprehensive Educational Package: Arukay provides an integrated educational solution that includes content, a adaptable curriculum, a dedicated platform, and sophisticated reporting and analytics tools. This package is designed to enhance the learning experience by providing schools with the necessary tools to teach digital skills, computational thinking, AI fundamentals and coding effectively.

Support and Training Services: Beyond just offering software, Arukay delivers a service component that significantly enhances value. This includes teacher training and the assignment of a Key School Manager who supports teachers throughout the academic year. This hands-on approach ensures that educators are well-equipped to use our platform effectively and integrate new teaching methods into their classrooms.

Engagement Through Competition: Arukay also hosts Latin American coding tournaments, which have seen significant participation, with over 21,000 students competing in the 2024 edition. These tournaments provide an exciting and engaging way for students to apply their skills in a competitive environment, enhancing their learning experience and motivation.

Revenue Model

a. Subscription Fees: Arukay charges an annual fee per student, which varies based on the school's tuition fees and the number of students enrolled. Our pricing model is designed to be scalable, offering lower costs per student with larger enrollments, making it accessible for schools of all sizes.

b. Volume Discounts: To accommodate larger institutions and encourage widespread adoption, Arukay offers volume discounts. This incentivizes schools to enroll more students in the program, thereby reducing the per-student cost and making the program more affordable.

c. Discounted Rates for NGOs and Public Schools: Understanding the financial constraints of NGOs and public schools, Arukay provides these institutions with discounted pricing at less than $1 USD per month per student (the academic year is of 9 months). This ensures that our solutions are accessible to a broader range of educational institutions, particularly those with limited resources.

Customer Base
Key Customers: Private and public K-12 schools and educational NGOs that seek to integrate advanced digital skills into their curricula.Beneficiaries: Students who gain access to cutting-edge educational content and the opportunity to develop critical digital and computational skills that are essential for their future careers.
Impact

Arukay's business model not only aims to be profitable but also to have a substantial social impact by equipping students with essential skills for the digital age. By making our platform accessible to a wide range of educational institutions, including under-resourced public schools, Arukay is committed to reducing educational disparities and fostering equitable learning opportunities.

Arukay's business model is centered around providing significant educational value through a scalable SaaS platform, comprehensive support services, and competitive engagement, all while maintaining a flexible and accessible pricing structure that accommodates a diverse customer base.

Do you primarily provide products or services directly to individuals, to other organizations, or to the government?

What is your plan for becoming financially sustainable, and what evidence can you provide that this plan has been successful so far?

Arukay has been financially sustainable and cash positive since its inception, primarily due to our revenue model and strategic market expansion. Here’s an overview of our financial strategy and the evidence of its success:

Revenue Generation Strategies

1. Subscription Model: Arukay operates on a subscription-based revenue model where schools pay an annual fee per student. This model provides a predictable and steady stream of income, allowing us to forecast revenue and manage our resources effectively.

2. Volume Discounts: We encourage adoption by offering volume discounts, which has proven successful in rapidly expanding our user base while maintaining financial viability. This strategy not only increases our market penetration but also secures long-term contracts with educational institutions.

3. Diverse Market Penetration: We plan to continue scaling by entering new markets, particularly focusing on regions within Latin America and expanding to other parts of the world where our educational model can address similar needs in digital literacy and computational thinking.

4. Grants and Funding: Although our primary revenue comes from subscriptions, we also seek grants and funding opportunities to support specific projects or expansions into lower-income regions. These funds help us maintain affordability for all educational institutions while scaling our impact.

Evidence of Financial Success

• Sustained Growth: Since our launch, Arukay has consistently grown its user base and revenue streams. Starting with a few local schools, we now serve over 66,000 students annually, demonstrating strong market demand and acceptance of our educational products.
• Financial Stability: Being cash positive from the beginning has allowed Arukay to reinvest in our platform continuously and expand our services without the immediate need for external funding. This self-sustaining growth is a testament to the efficacy and efficiency of our business model.

Long-Term Financial Sustainability Plan In the long term, Arukay aims to ensure financial sustainability by:

• Expanding to New Markets: We plan to continue our growth by entering new educational markets, using a localized approach to adapt our services to meet regional needs, thereby increasing our global footprint and revenue.
• Enhancing Product Offerings: Continuous investment in our platform to introduce new features and capabilities will attract more users and increase the value of our subscriptions.
• Building Partnerships: Developing partnerships with governments and large educational networks can lead to large-scale adoption and long-term contracts, further stabilizing our revenue streams.

Arukay’s approach to financial sustainability is rooted in a proven business model that leverages predictable revenue streams, strategic market expansion, and continuous product development. Our track record of financial stability and growth underlines the potential for sustained success and scalability of our solution