As gaming platforms like Roblox and Minecraft continue to grow in popularity among young children, and with platforms like YouTube consuming hours of their daily screen time, edtech companies face challenges in capturing their attention. 

Polymath aims to tackle this by combining gamified mechanics inspired by these popular games with adaptive math lessons to make the learning experience more enjoyable. 

The educational sandbox game allows children to explore a virtual island where they can customize avatars, build using bricks and other materials, and interact with villagers. To progress in the game, kids must complete math-related questions, which ensures they remain focused on their educational goals.

The startup announced on Monday its $1 million pre-seed funding round, which will help its platform reach additional markets. The raise was co-led by Blackbird Ventures and GD1. Notably, Liam Don, ClassDojo’s chief technology officer, is an angel investor.

Sophie Silver, co-founder and CEO of Polymath, studied human learning, memory, and developmental psychology at University College London (UCL). While working as a part-time nanny during her studies, she noticed a gap in children’s mathematical abilities and realized it was becoming increasingly difficult to make lessons entertaining for them. 

“The kids really did not enjoy maths, and so I would start to invent games, mainly with cards or dice, to try and motivate them to do their multiplication or whatever they needed to do,” Sophie Silver told TechCrunch. “[I realized] the way that these kids are learning is not aligned with how the brain works.”

Polymath uses an adaptive algorithm to personalize learning for each child based on their progress. The company analyzes children’s answers to identify the best question to ask next, recognizes knowledge gaps, and optimizes the timing of new information to prevent the kid from being overwhelmed.

In addition to the core math lesson feature, there are learning opportunities inside the virtual world. For instance, if players want to build a house in the game, they need to measure the dimensions and calculate how many wood blocks they need. 

“There’s a shopkeeper where you can buy things like resources from it, and sometimes that shopkeeper is unreliable and will give you the wrong price. Each block of wood costs 5 “cubos” (the currency in Polymath). You’re asking to buy 4, but it’s trying to charge you 30 cubos. That’s a critical thinking moment for the student to recognize that the price is wrong,” Christian Silver, co-founder and CTO, said. 

Polymath offers both an at-home version and a classroom version. The classroom version allows teachers to monitor students in real time. In this version, all players can work together in a shared space, answering questions simultaneously. If the classroom doesn’t have enough devices available, Polymath has an option that calls on players to answer the next question, so every student is involved.

The at-home version enables parents to manage their child’s experience and receive weekly email reports about their child’s progress. There is also a parent app, Polymath Relate, where parents can view detailed answers to every question their child has answered.

Additionally, kids can connect with a friend on Polymath using a unique friend code. However, when playing in multiplayer mode, no chat function is available.

Polymath launched in January 2023 through the Startmate accelerator in New Zealand. It has garnered thousands of users across Arizona, California, Florida, Texas, and Virginia, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K.

Future plans for the game include expanding the curriculum to offer more advanced learning opportunities and allowing for collaborative play, where kids can work together on problems. Additionally, Polymath plans to introduce purchasable avatar assets as a revenue stream in the future.

Polymath is free to play on the web, iOS, and Android devices.