How Edurino Built Europe’s Hybrid Learning Revolution
- Jörn Menninger
- 2 hours ago
- 34 min read
Pain · Promise · Proof · Power Word
When screens became babysitters, one German founder turned them into teachers.
Hybrid learning for kids is reshaping how Europe educates the next generation — and Edurino leads the charge.
Management Summary
Hybrid learning isn’t a buzzword anymore — it’s a lifeline for parents, teachers, and children navigating a digital-first world.This piece explores how Irene Klemm, co-founder and co-CEO of Edurino, transformed lockdown chaos into a scalable European edtech model that balances tactile play with digital curiosity.
You’ll learn:
Why parents trust hybrid learning more than pure screen time
The startup playbook that convinced investors to fund €30 million + in a traditionally under-funded sector
How Europe’s edtech founders can adapt this model to scale responsibly
Our Sponsor
Quick break for something every founder should hear. One leak on the dark web can mean account takeovers, impersonation, or a board-level crisis. That’s why we partnered with NordStellar — a business-grade threat-exposure platform from the team behind NordVPN. It gives you early signals before attackers escalate — with data-breach and dark-web monitoring, attack-surface discovery, and cybersquatting detection. You’ll spot exposed credentials, shadow IT, and fake domains fast.
Startuprad listeners get an exclusive 20% Black Friday discount — go to nordstellar.com/startupradio and use code blackfriday20 before December 10, 2025. Don’t wait until your data shows up for sale — visit nordstellar.com/startupradio, code blackfriday20.
Table of Contents
Hybrid Learning for Kids: From Pandemic Pain to Global Promise
The Problem Edurino Set Out to Solve
Building Parental Trust in the Age of YouTube Kids
The Founders’ Playbook: Design, Trust, Partners
Scaling Across Europe — What Worked, What Didn’t
Investors, Empathy, and Evidence: Convincing a Skeptical Market
The Future: AI-Personalized, Play-Powered Learning
Key Takeaways · Pro Tips · Market Lens
Explore More from Startuprad.io
Hybrid Learning for Kids: From Pandemic Pain to Global Promise
In 2020, when kindergartens shut their doors and parents became accidental teachers, Irene Klemm saw a gap no one else dared to touch.
Most families faced two extremes: no screens at all or full surrender to the tablet. Neither taught digital literacy — both taught frustration.
Edurino’s answer was bold: merge physical toys with digital storytelling apps for ages 4 to 8 — so that screen time becomes learning time.
“Technology, if designed right, should spark curiosity, not kill it,” Irene told me.
That belief birthed Europe’s fastest-scaling hybrid learning platform.
The Problem Edurino Set Out to Solve
Before COVID-19, only 25 % of German schools had Wi-FiEdurino_sound. Educational tech for preschoolers barely existed. Parents either forbade devices or relied on random YouTube channels — neither built skills nor confidence.
Post-lockdown, edtech investment jumped from $5 billion → $20 billion globally, but early childhood remained neglected. Edurino filled that vacuum with a direct-to-consumer (D2C) approach, bypassing slow-moving institutions and reaching families directly.
“We had to bridge the time kids spent at home — and we couldn’t wait for ministries,” Irene said
Building Parental Trust in the Age of YouTube Kids
Trust is Edurino’s currency.To prove hybrid learning wasn’t a gimmick, the team worked with Cambridge University to validate outcomes. Results:
+35 % in problem-solving skills
+25 % in reading comprehensionEdurino_sound
Those numbers turned skeptics into allies. Parents saw data; investors saw traction.
Edurino positioned itself not as “more screen time” — but as “the right kind of screen time in the right dose.”
The app includes built-in screen-time limits and character-led good-bye sequences (“See you next time!”), helping kids transition naturally back to real-world play.
The Founders’ Playbook:
Design · Trust · Partners
When asked what’s non-negotiable for edtech founders, Irene didn’t hesitate:
Design for the user — the child.
Earn trust early.
Choose allies wisely.
Kids must love it, or nothing else matters. Parents must trust it, or no one buys it. Partners must believe in it, or scaling stalls.
This trifecta defines Europe’s new generation of purpose-driven startups — pragmatic, evidence-based, yet emotionally intelligent.
Scaling Across Europe — What Worked, What Didn’t
Edurino’s expansion across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the UK required deep cultural adaptation.
In Germany, the debate is still screen vs no screen; messaging focuses on reassurance.
In the UK, parents already accept screens; emphasis shifts to quality and creativity.
In both, localization meant involving local educators and adapting pedagogy.
Offline channels mattered more than expected — 45 % of toy purchases still happen in stores. That insight triggered a pivot from pure D2C to retail + community partnerships .
“We realized educational products need multiple touch points — kindergartens, retailers, friends’ homes. It’s about trust through familiarity.”
Investors, Empathy and Evidence: Convincing a Skeptical Market
Edtech has long been under-invested because ROI feels abstract.Edurino cracked that by mixing data (evidence) + stories (empathy).
Traction : 400 ,000 families reached Edurino_sound
Retention : kids return repeatedly — a metric consumer investors love
Emotion : parents call it “screen time that teaches”
A DN Capital partner literally tested it with his son and said, “This is better than YouTube.” That one anecdote anchored a funding round.
“We design Edurino with parents and children, not for them.” — Irene Klemm
The Future — AI-Personalized, Play-Powered Learning
Looking five years ahead, Irene envisions AI tailoring lessons to each child’s pace — but never replacing human play.
“AI will personalize education at scale, but it must be combined with real-world interaction.”
Hybrid learning, then, isn’t a phase; it’s education’s next operating system.The global edtech market will exceed $350 billion by 2030, yet the preschool segment remains wide open.
Europe, with its multilingual markets and pedagogical diversity, is uniquely suited to lead — provided founders keep empathy + evidence at the core.
Key Takeaways
Hybrid learning bridges the gap between physical curiosity and digital literacy.
Early trust + scientific validation = investment magnet.
Localization is harder than translation — understand parental psychology first.
The future of edtech is AI-enabled, empathy-anchored.
Pro Tip for Founders
If your users are children, design for their joy; if your buyers are parents, design for their trust.
Market Lens
DACH region: conservative but fast-growing once trust is earned.
UK: private-preschool market favors premium educational toys.
Nordics & Benelux: next logical expansion clusters.
Stat Spotlight
70 % of parents in Germany worry about too much screen time.35 % higher problem-solving skills in Edurino users (Cambridge study).400 ,000 families reached across Europe.
Internal & External Linking
Internal
Authority Sources
Cambridge University Learning Study (2024)
Crunchbase Funding Data for Edurino
German Startup Association Awards 2025
🧩 FAQ Section
What is Edurino?
Edurino is a German edtech startup combining beautifully designed physical toys with interactive apps to teach children aged 4 to 8 core skills like problem solving, creativity and digital literacy
Who founded Edurino?
Edurino was founded in 2019 by Irene Klemm and Franziska Meyer, two entrepreneurs driven to make screen time educational and safe for young children
What does “hybrid learning for kids” mean?
Hybrid learning blends physical play with digital interaction. Edurino’s model uses real toys to trigger in-app experiences, turning screens into learning tools rather than distractions
How does Edurino help parents manage screen time?
The app includes built-in time limits and character-led transitions that encourage kids to stop playing after 20–25 minutes and continue offline with their figures — helping parents avoid over-consumption
What educational results does Edurino show?
A Cambridge University study found Edurino improves problem-solving skills by 35 % and reading skills by 25 % — turning playtime into measurable learning
How did Edurino convince investors to fund a children’s app?
By pairing data (evidence of learning impact) with empathy (real parent stories) and framing itself not as a toy company but a “category-defining learning system” that builds trust and scale
How many families use Edurino?
As of 2025, Edurino serves more than 400 000 families across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the UK — a clear sign of mainstream product-market fit
What makes Germany’s edtech market unique?
Germany still debates “screens or no screens,” so edtech brands must educate parents on what kind of screen time matters — trust, not tech, drives adoption
What growth strategy worked best for Edurino?
A mix of retail partnerships for credibility and community storytelling for word-of-mouth growth proved far more effective than paid ads
How is AI shaping the future of hybrid learning?
AI will personalize education to each child’s pace, but Irene Klemm believes it must stay anchored in real-world play and human trust to avoid purely screen-based learning
Why do parents trust Edurino?
Because the startup works directly with educators, publishes independent research, and builds products that encourage healthy digital habits instead of addiction
What were Edurino’s biggest pivots?
Switching from pure D2C to a hybrid retail model and shifting marketing messaging to appeal to both parents and children — unlocking European scale
What age group is Edurino for?
Children aged 4 to 8 — a critical period for developing problem-solving and digital literacy skills
What skills does Edurino teach?
Problem solving, reading comprehension, creative thinking, early coding logic, and emotional skills for resilience and teamwork
Why is “no screen time” a myth?
Because screens are ubiquitous — from buses to video calls. Digital literacy is now a life skill, and safe, purposeful screen time prepares children for the future
What’s next for Edurino?
Expansion deeper into Europe, new age ranges, and AI-driven personalization — aiming to become the global gold standard for hybrid learning by 2030
How can founders earn trust in sensitive industries?
Combine credible data, ethical design, and transparent communication — trust is half the battle, credibility the other half
What was Irene Klemm’s vision for education reform?
A system built around curiosity first — no rigid grades, no fear of mistakes, and tools that unlock creativity through play and exploration
Where can I listen to the full interview?
Listen to the full conversation on Apple Podcasts or Spotify — search for “Startuprad.io Edurino Hybrid Learning.”
How can I access Startuprad.io’s AI assistant or premium interviews?
Chat with our AI assistant anytime on 👉 Startuprad.io for instant answers from hundreds of founder interviews.For exclusive deep-dive conversations we can’t publish anywhere else, join our premium channels:
Give us Feedback!
Let us know who you are and what you do. Give us feedback on what we do and what we could do better. Happy to hear from each and every one of you guys out there!
The Video Podcast Will Go Live on Monday November 6th 2025
The video is available up to 24 hours before to our channel members in what we call the Entrepreneur’s Vault.
The Audio Podcast Will Go Live Monday November 6th 2025
You can subscribe to our podcasts here. Find our podcast on your favorite podcasting app or platform. Here are some of the links to subscribe.
The audio and video is available up to 24 hours before to our substack members in what we call the Entrepreneur’s Vault.
Tune in to our Internet Radio Station here:
Be one of the people smartening up with our content, as well as that of many media partners, including but not limited to Tech.eu and Stanford University Radio Show Laptop Radio
Get Our Content to Your Inbox
Decide what you want to read and when. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter here: https://startupradio.substack.com/
Find All Other Channels Here
Find all options to subscribe to our newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or listen to our internet radio station here: https://linktr.ee/startupradio
Interested in Working with us?
Welcome to Startuprad.io™, your premier source for news and insights into the vibrant world of German, Austrian, and Swiss tech innovation! As a decision-maker, you’re invited to dive into our content, featuring Emmy award winners, New York Times bestsellers, and Forbes top lists luminaries. Our platform offers a curated selection of interviews with industry leaders, game-changing entrepreneurs, and influential investors. Our focus on startups around Series A funding ensures that you get exclusive insights into the rising stars of tomorrow. By advertising with us, you tap into an audience that values forward-thinking and impactful partnerships. Join us at Startuprad.io and let your message reach the innovators shaping the future: partnerships@startuprad.io
Subscribe & Follow
Don’t miss out on our latest episodes and updates! Follow us on social media and subscribe to our newsletter for more exclusive content: https://linktr.ee/startupradio
The Host & Guest
The host in this interview is Jörn “Joe” Menninger, startup scout, founder, and host of Startuprad.io. And guest is Irene Klemm Co-Founder of Edurino.
📝 About the Author
Jörn “Joe” Menninger is the founder and host of Startuprad.io — one of Europe’s top startup podcasts. Joe's work is featured in Forbes, Tech.eu, and more. He brings 15+ years of expertise in consulting, strategy, and startup scouting.
Automated Transcript
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:00:00]:
If you're a founder, parent or investor watching the ad tech wave, here's the challenge. How do we give kids the benefit of digital education without drowning them in screen time? Irene Klemm, co founder and co CEO of Edu Reno, has raised millions to build a hybrid learning model combining physical toys with digital apps that's scaling fast across Europe. Today we'll uncover how she's reimagining early childhood education, attract top VCs and reshaping the future of learning so the next generation grows up curious, confident and ready for what's next. And by the way, Irene was just named Female Entrepreneur of the year 2025 at the German Startup World. Congratulations. Welcome to Startuprad I, your podcast and YouTube blog covering the German startup scene with news, interviews and live events. My guest today is Irene Klemm, the co founder and co CEO of Edu Reno, one of Europe's most exciting edtech startups. Since launch 2019, Irene and her co founders have built a hybrid learning platform that combines beautiful designed physical toys with a gaming digital app for children ages 4 to 8.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:01:31]:
The mission? To make digital education safe, playful and truly effective. Irene's work has been recognized in major ways. She was named to Forbes 3030 and just this year she was awarded Female Entrepreneur of the Year at the German Startup Awards 2025 handed out by the German Startup Association. Congratulations Irene. This continues our Startup Radio tradition of interviewing winners of the German Startup Awards every year since 2021. I'm impressed by myself actually. Edu Reno has already attracted a 17 million Series B investment by Ravensburger Ventures. For everybody who doesn't know them, they are the tabletop game people here in Germany, Summit here and existing investors, bringing a total to more than 3,30 million euros according to Crunchbase.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:02:26]:
Amongst the investors is DN Capital, known for investments like Shazam Eda, now part of Oracle and Auto1. And the company has scaled across Europe, the UK and other countries, partnering with major retailers like Muller and Abon to bring the toys and apps into homes across Europe. Today we'll dive into how Irena and her team are navigating the challenges of balancing screen time with real play, scaling an ad tech startup across multiple European markets and what the future of hybrid learning means for founders, investors and parents worldwide. That was quite a lot of introduction. Thank you for being here and congratulations to your German Startup Award.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:03:17]:
Thank you so much. Thanks a lot for having me. I'm very excited to be here today.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:03:23]:
Before we get started, where did you put the award? Where is it located?
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:03:26]:
Physically, right now, I put it into the office because the award is not just for me, but for the entire team. So therefore it's there to see for everyone.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:03:38]:
My virtual assistant helped me to prepare this interview and I really love this. Once upon a time. Irene, take us back to the very beginning before Edo Reno became one of Europe's fastest growing ad tech startups. What was your personal journey into early childhood education and what inspired you to build a hybrid learning solution that combines physical toys and apps?
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:04:01]:
So my brother was very early on into computer games and coding. And I remember when I was still a child, our parents never bought us a Nintendo or any console of any kind, but they gave us one computer to share, which is always interesting amongst siblings. And I love playing learning games, even back then. And the interesting thing is that they haven't really evolved any further. So back then, the computer wasn't just for fun, but it was for discovery for us. And this early fascination shaped my belief that technology, if designed right, could spark curiosity rather than kill it.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:04:38]:
I was laughing here a little bit. I was just imagining the great idea to share a computer between siblings. Links and actually have to admit, no surprise that your brother was into gaming and coding. I was at least into the same stuff. Before Eduardo was launched in 2021, what was the state of early childhood education and attack in Europe? And why were parents and educators still struggling with digital learning for kids aged 4 to 8?
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:05:10]:
So before Edino, parents basically had two extremes. Either avoid screens completely or try to avoid them completely, or hand over the tablet to the kid and hope for the best. And neither was good enough and neither is preparing them properly for the future. Educators back then told us that there was no trusted digital solution tailored for kids at this very young age, particularly in the preschool age. And if you looked at the infrastructure, it was quite shocking. So around 25% of schools in Germany had Vlan wi fi, meaning that 75% of schools didn't. Before COVID there was basically no digital infrastructure. And Covid then accelerated the conversations.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:05:52]:
But parents were left with very few quality tools designed for young kids. And that's the problem that we are actively solving with Atari. Now.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:06:05]:
I'm a little bit curious. Was there a specific moment, maybe a parent, educator or entrepreneur, when you realize the way kids learn with Green is Broken and a hybrid play based approach could be the solution? And what was the moment you actually imagined this hybrid? Did you just put a toy on a tablet? How is the process?
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:06:36]:
So I'm taking you back again to 2020 COVID lockdown. Kindergarten suddenly closed, primary school suddenly closed. And of course there were some solutions for schools, but parents were very much left alone at homes because everybody assumed both parents are home so they can take care of the child. But of course also back then both parents were working and they had to occupy the kids somehow. And then when we realized this, we went actively into families and I remember watching a friend's child swiping on the tablet and completely absorbed by the screen. But the content ultimately was empty calories. So in that moment I thought we need to rethink screens completely because they are not TV replacements anymore. They are fully fledged computers and we have to choose what to do with it.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:07:26]:
Is it passive consumption or, or is it something positive, interact, interactive, educational with it? And we also need to be the driver of that and we need to teach the children early on how to use these tools. So of course Covid accelerated that realization and the infrastructure because suddenly millions of families were forced into digital learning without any quality solutions. And we could see that ever since the tech market grew massively. So global investments jumped just under and 5 billion pre covered to more than 20 billion in 21. That was the, the number that I, that I found, but hardly any of them even back then, but even now is targeting early childhood because it's a completely different model. We actively decided also back then that we need to target and we need to sell to directly the families and not to these big structures, not to the government and not to schools primarily, even though now we of course have a very strong presence. But back then we knew that this D2C approach is the only solution. How we can reach the families fast enough with this strongly needed solution to bridge this time that they have at home forcefully.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:08:39]:
By Covid.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:08:43]:
I've seen quite a lot of and heard quite a lot of very interesting stories concerning how it was for a lot of parents to have one or two kids at home. The parents worked from home and nobody really had a place to sit or a setup or even an idea how this could work. Very interesting times as, as an entrepreneur you have to make difficult decisions. What was the toughest challenge in convincing both parents and investors that hybrid learning like physical touch plus an app could be trusted as both educational and safe for young children.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:09:25]:
So edtech has historically always been under invested. So the hardest challenge for us was convincing parents, convincing investors that this hybrid learning wasn't just a gimmick, but that they can trust it and that this is the future. So that's why we very early on partnered with kindergartens, we brought educators into our team. We partnered with networks. We also recently partnered with Cambridge University in a study to show that the games don't just entertain kids, but they create real value. So we could show that for example, problem solving skills are enhanced by 35%, reading skills are enhanced by 25%. And with this very hard data, with attraction that we could show, paired with the stories from the parents, we could then prove that our model is delivering real educational impact. And that was the key to a market where, where more than 70% of the parents say that they worry about too much screen time.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:10:23]:
So also to educate the parents and to educate the investors that it's not about empty screen time, but it's about using digital devices as a tool and creating something positive. Future proof and highly needed for future skills for the children.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:10:40]:
When I was preparing this interview, I was thinking about there was a call like a year or two ago from educators to actually tune down the screen time children have at schools in a world where Germany lacks digital education. I was just wondering quickly about your thoughts about that before we move into the next prepared question.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:11:09]:
So what is quite interesting is that Germany is a bit of a vacuum compared to other countries around us. Meaning that in Germany the discussion is still screen or no screen. Whereas in other countries the debate is more about what kind of screen time and what kind of screen. So our message is the right kind of screen time in the right dose. And parents need partners that they can trust because ultimately there is no binary approach to this. It's not no screen time or sitting in front of the screen for 10 hours, but we need to find a way how we can balance it, how we can teach the children, also how to integrate it purposefully into the routines without having this over consumption at one point. Because in reality what we observe is that if parents don't actively take a role and don't speak with children openly about what they do in the digital world, it can very easily happen that when they are 6, 7, 8 years old, they end up at tick tock without any consequence and without the parents even having an idea what they do on screen. And now a lot of parents may think how is this even possible? But kids find a lot of ways.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:12:19]:
How to, how to trick a tablet, how to enter the WI fi even though the parents think they are not so therefore that's why it's so important to take an active role here and to, to accompany the children in this, in this frankly scary world. I mean when we look at the numbers like Nowadays, even In Germany, over 70% of the 4 to 5 year olds spend regular time on YouTube. Kids, meaning that they have screen time, and now it's about turning the screen time into time that matters and not being wasted by passive consumption.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:12:58]:
I see, I see. Yeah. It also helps if they're watching something really exciting or stuff like that to tell them that it's made by someone, that it follows a predictable arc and that it's made for purpose. I really learned that with my children. Going back to Edorino, every startup hits an early wall. What was Edorino's first major pivot in product distribution of messaging and how did it change your trajectory?
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:13:26]:
Yeah, so I think there were two main points. So the first one, I mean, we started with Edorino in a bit of a special world, I'd say, with COVID And we brought a completely new product to the market. And then of course the big question is, do people just say that they like it or do they really love it and are they willing to put their credit card on the table? So I'd say the first, and following this approach, we then did a crowdfunding campaign where people could pre purchase our products. And following that, we thought, ah, that's a great approach to be D2C only and D2C first. But we quickly realized that an educational product is not a one touch point product. People need a lot of touch points, meaning they may want to see it in familiar places like kindergartens, like primary schools. They want to see it at a friend's place or have a personal recommendation about it. They want to see it as at their favorite retailer.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:14:27]:
And that made us realize very quickly that we also need to invest strongly into these partnerships to create these touch points for parents. And another pivot was how we address the audiences. So online we speak very much to the parents about trust, about pedagogy, but we saw that in store because usually the parents are with their children. So we need to appeal also with the product a lot more to the kids themselves and have them getting excited about the characters, about everything that we offer with Adorino. So this dual channel approach unlocked growth for us. And to put this into perspective, Nowadays still around 45% of toy purchases are made offline, meaning that it has been historically very important for us to not only build a D2C approach, but also to trust these strong partners, but also our kindergartens, libraries, and so on and so forth. So that were probably two of our main pivots.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:15:31]:
And I have to admit, your little play toys, they look really Nice. I think you got inspired by totem boxes or something. Yes. There's one, for example, and the children can play with that. That's physically really, really nice. I like that.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:15:51]:
Thank you so much.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:15:52]:
I was wondering, in B2B marketing you usually say 6 to 8 contacts. In Germany it's rather 10 to 12, maybe 15 contacts. How many touch points do you need in order for somebody to really take it seriously and buy?
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:16:07]:
Yeah, so we see in the online world for parents it's also around seven. And those touch points are online, but they also can be offline and retailers can be in partners. So also around seven.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:16:21]:
We've been talking about the conflict about screen time. How do you position your model, especially for parents there between the two maximums, no screen time or all screen time.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:16:34]:
Yeah. So to be real here, no screen time is not possible anymore. Kids on the one hand side get in contact with screens if you like it or not, and on the other hand side, they need these skills in the future. So it's nothing that's optional anymore. But it's a crucial skill that kids are going to need also to know what happens when I'm in the online world, what happens with my digital footprint, how can I use this tool in the best way to benefit me and in a responsible way. So therefore how we position ourselves, even though it may sometimes seem counterintuitive, is that we are actually a tool how to introduce responsible educational screen time. And in a lot of households we actually even used to reduce screen time because when you look at offerings, say again a YouTube kids episodes go on and on and on and this is how they are designed. So it's very hard to find this point where you as a parent can also say, hey, now it's enough.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:17:38]:
And atorino, we integrated into the product a screen time limit, meaning that after 20, 25 minutes, whatever you said, there is a character saying, hey, that was so much fun. Now you have one more game to play, helping also with the transition of the kit and then we see you next time and then the game falls asleep and at the same time the kids continue playing with the real character. So it helps a lot more to integrate it into the daily routine and not to lead to overconsumption at some point. So that's how we position ourselves in this, in this world as a, as a positive tool.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:18:09]:
Debate about screen time is pretty interesting because a few years ago when my son was born, I was pretty sure helping him to understand coding, helping him to speak several languages, even Chinese would be an Advantage. Now a lot of this went out the window with wipe coding, self driving cars and so on and so forth. But I do believe at least the screen time that that will stay valid for some time.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:18:36]:
Basically the access to the digital learning world and the access to this tool that is needed to then benefit in all in everything that you just mentioned. Right. Vibe coding, I mean it's going to be on a screen. Also to steer your self driving car, it needs to be on a screen. So it's about setting this seat very early on and educating the kids what is even possible in a responsible way.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:19:01]:
Our audience already knows that we are interviewing you for two interviews and the other one will be the founder's vault. At one point you faced a decision that could have made or broken it Arena a moment where parental trust, funding or your vision were all online. Inside the founders world we go into how you navigated that high stakes decision, what almost went wrong and what you learned from this near miss. Talking about obstacles here, how did you personally navigate skepticism from investors, educators or parents? I remember you talked about continuously underfunded edtech and I'm sure they questioned whether the children would really engage with a hybrid model. Yeah, definitely, because it's pretty easy. You give the kid the tablet, you give the kid the nice figures and they stop playing. But if you're sitting in front of an investor, you don't have a kid and the toys at hand, right?
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:20:07]:
Yes, that is true. So I think with every completely new approach and new model there is skepticism. So some investor asked us, will kids even use a hybrid toy app model? What is the toy even for? Why isn't it just an app with a subscription? Then also educators question whether digital play could be as meaningful. Parents worried about safety. So what we did is we always navigated by going back to two main things. The first one is evidence and the second one is empathy. So evidence. So we for investors, we showed this early traction that the kids, the parents really love our products.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:20:45]:
We could see in our data that we have very high retention. Kids play a lot of adorino, they really love it. And that's also the key, remembering who you're doing it for the user. And then the second one, empathy. So listening to parents, listening to children primarily. So our main users and the customer, showing them that we designed adorino with them, not just for them. And that then spoke for itself. And when we look at the investors again, a lot of them are parents.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:21:14]:
So what we did is we always asked them also to try out our products with Their kids and to have that speak for themselves. I mean, of course it's just n equals 1. It can't speak for entire industry. But paired with traction, paired with data, that then made a holistic picture and that could convince them.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:21:35]:
In the early days, what was your first early traction milestone? What was the first clear sign that there was product market fit? Was it like the first retailer that took you in app downloads or parents, they went out and did testimonials. Actually, we have to tell our audience 80, 85% is from Germany. But testimonials, reviews, text, it is pretty rare. I do have a lot of five star ratings. But the last time somebody wrote really a review in an app store was more than three years ago in Apple podcasts, three years ago. So the audience here is a little bit different from international norms.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:22:21]:
Yeah. So I mean, for us, I would say that it came in two stages. I mean, this very early proof was this crowdfunding campaign where we saw people up actively putting their credit cards there. So we had around 500 supporters. Yes, from our network, but not all of them. So there were also parents outside of our network who were like, okay, yes, it's something that I need and I want to purchase it. So that was definitely the very first sign paired with. After our very first article at Grundersen, a distributor approached us and then we quickly came into the first retailer.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:22:52]:
Our very first retail partner was Mueller, one of the biggest German toy retailers that there is. And that definitely showed us that there is a market for this because also the retailer thinks that they can sell this way. And then I would say there was a second stage because then the question of course is, is this a niche product or can this be a mass market product? And by now we are in 400,000 families and with that we could clearly show that it's not only for a niche, but it should be available to anyone, accessible to anyone. And therefore, I think the second point was when we sold probably the 100,000 starter sets mark or so, when we really knew, okay, apparently if I imagine these people in one room, this is not just a niche.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:23:40]:
You have some experience now running Eduardo for four years almost. If you were, if you were asked to write the playbook for edtech founders today, what are the moves? Product design, retest strategy, fundraising or would you consider non negotiable?
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:24:01]:
So if I were writing a playbook for edtech founders, three things for me would be non negotiable. And the first one by far is always design and live up to user first so in our case, if kids don't love it, nothing else matters. Therefore, if you have conflicting decisions to make, conflicting data points, always choose the ones for your main user. In our case, the kids. Second one non negotiable with the EdTech product, particular is earned trust very early. So you need to be able to show safety, very excellent pedagogy, credibility, real results. So when we look at the market, eight out of 10 parents say that they check whether an app is educational even before downloading. So this is crucial that you have these ticks and that you can show the excellence of your product.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:24:53]:
And thirdly, I'd say securing the right partners. So it depends a bit on the EdTech product, but whether in our case it's retailers, whether it's investors, whether it's the right school system, the right network, into that direction, you need the right allies to accelerate growth exponentially. And from experience in the market, Most models in D2C make it with the D2C first. Sorry, in attack, make it with a D2C first approach. So very, it's very, very hard to come with a B2G approach and make it really happen in the attack space.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:25:35]:
Actually, when you were talking, I was thinking about one could also make it into a serious game. Yes, of course, you scaled into multiple European countries already. What framework or process did you use to adapt Edorino for new markets with the different education system and parental expectations?
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:25:57]:
Yeah, so scaling into new markets required a very clear framework. So we work, always work with local educators, parents, and we adapt our content to fit the cultural expectations. And that's how we were able to expand across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the UK successfully. We're now going to launch two additional European markets and every launch is always backed by research. And depending on the country, we adapt more or less of our product. So the good thing with Arino is that in the core of it, we teach core competencies that every kid is going to need around the globe in the future. And that's not necessarily only school skills like hard skills, but it's also problem solving, creativity, critical thinking, logical thinking, foundations for coding, emotional skills. So everything that equips the children to be future proof, resilient human beings, whatever comes their way.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:26:56]:
So and then of course we also need to adapt the messaging and all of our advertisement around that accordingly. So to give you a very concrete example, we had this already that in Germany, the screen time is still more of a critical topic than it is in other countries. So in Germany it's more opening up this entire world that you can support your kid in a good way with a screen, whereas in other countries it's more about turning screen time into positive time because they are having a lot more screen time already.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:27:28]:
For our audience. For those listening, how did you think about screen time in your family or school? Do you lean towards more guardrails or more trust in digital tools? Drop your thoughts in the comments or LinkedIn. We'll feature the best insights in our recap. What was the turning point strategy that unlocked your Series A and how did you position your hybrid model to stand out in a very crowded, mostly digital only ad tech market?
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:28:01]:
So for us the turning point was changing the narrative. So we're not selling toys, not at all. We're building a category defining learning system and this framing resonated with investors and helped us raise the past rounds. So in addition, as said before, most investors are parents and can be convinced by having the kids play and love Edu Reno. So for example in our series Seed we had an investor who gave the products to his son and he said this is so much better than YouTube and that was the trigger point for them investing.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:28:37]:
Ah, I see. We'll be back right after short Ad Break where Ureno shares the strategy that changed everything for Edino from being a promising startup to raising 30 plus millions in total and expanding across Europe. Hey guys, welcome back to the interview with Irena, the Female Entrepreneur of the year 2025 German startup awards and founder co founder of Edorino. When we're talking about startups, we still talk about growth. What growth model worked best for Edo Reno? Retail partnerships, direct to parents, marketing, community building or anything else.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:29:25]:
So retail and institutional partnerships, they give us a lot of credibility. But I would say that the real magic to unlock growth happens when parents share their real stories online. So that community building drove word of mouth more than any ad spend could. So today a very high percentage of our new customers comes from word of mouth, comes from peer recommendations and therefore that is the most important fuel driver for us.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:29:55]:
Let me put it that way. When you had limited resources, but I have to admit I talked to founders who raised to more than 100 million and it's not like they could do everything. They still see the restriction of you of their resources. But when you had more limited resources, what strategic trade offs did you make it? How did you decide what where to place the biggest bets?
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:30:18]:
So when you're resource constrained, I think there's also some beauty in it because it forces you to rigorously focus on what matters. And for us we always Define that that is the kit, meaning that we have always decided against a lot of things that would be nice to have for the parents or nice to haves for educators, because we have been requested a lot, from dashboards to fancy extras here and there. But ultimately we always asked ourselves, does this benefit directly the child? And this clarity, of course, helped us allocate the resources to what truly mattered. And even though we grew and even though we have more resources and people now, we still try to bring in the same level of focus. Even now.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:31:07]:
We'Ve been talking about credibility. Originally, I want to ask you which which gave you the most credibility, but it was actually the institutions. We already cleared that out. In the other question, let us go to the scaling challenges. You scaled across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and uk. What was the hardest challenge? The logistics, because you still have physical toy localizing the digital content or hiring talent across markets.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:31:36]:
So we always knew that we want to reach as many kids as possible with Adorino. And that being said, we always designed our products to be scalable, to be adaptable to different educational models too. And I would say that the hardest challenge never is the product market fit. Because as soon as people have us in their hands, they love Adreno, they love the products, they remain in the system for a long time, etc. But the toughest challenge for us was this message market fit. I've talked about some learnings, how Germany is also different to other countries before. But to convey this also in your marketing messaging, that has definitely been a journey for us and US and also finding out what channels really work, who do people really trust? Because in Germany, let's take an example of influencers. An influencer, a mom influencer, once told me that she's the digital best friend of her followers.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:32:34]:
And in Germany this is really true. People have very strong trust in some influencers in other markets, for example the uk, it's not the same picture, meaning that that is also a channel that works very differently than it does in Germany. So figuring this out, where do people get their main source of information? Is it through the educational system? Where also in Germany, for example, we do have a very strong trust in the system. Also most of the kindergartens, everything in preschool is state owned, Whereas in the UK for example, over 30 is private. So it's a different market. And to understand this and really build these touch points, build these trust points and therefore reach parents, because we are not just selling another consumer product, we are selling an educational product that parents need to trust and be convinced of.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:33:29]:
I'M actually a little bit shocked by that. For the simple reason people trust in influencers. They trust in people who make their living by selling as much as possible to them. Okay, that's completely different topic to discuss about mankind, humankind here.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:33:48]:
Yep. But maybe to just say one thing here though. We have a lot of influencers that we work closely with that don't just advertise any product. They really want to test the product through and through. They have a lot of questions. It's very close relationships that we have and only then they advertise it. So I also want to say this, that there is not just anyone selling anything, but some of them have to be really, really convinced.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:34:17]:
That's usually the best ones and the effort usually pays off. Inside the founders world, you'll share investor pitch deck structure and fundraising lessons, how you raised 30 millions insights you won't hear anywhere else. Let us go a little bit into the outlook. What's next for you guys? Are you focused on deeper penetration in Europe, new product categories or expanding to something like North America and Asia?
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:34:44]:
So our vision is to make Adorino the gold standard for hybrid learning globally. So first we deepen our penetration across Europe and long term, we want to expand our age range so that children can grow with Eddarina from kindergarten all the way through primary school and also beyond. And we can see that the global EdTech market is projected to exceed 350 billion by 2030. And we see that early childhood education is a very important growth driver. Within that, however, there's still very, very few offerings. And that's why we have high ambitions to move into that and to fill that gap.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:35:21]:
Admittedly, Edorido is not five years old, but looking out five years, how do you see edtech for children evolving? Especially now that AI is not really in their gamification and hybrid learning models.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:35:37]:
So in five years, I believe that AI will personalize education at scale, but it needs to be combined with real world play, especially at this very young age. And therefore I'm convinced that hybrid learning is not a trend, but it's the future, especially for young children. And one thing that will always remain true is that in education, parents demand the highest quality and the safest product. So that's why successful attacks must always stay kids first. And just to put it into perspective, over 90% of parents also say that quality safety is their top priority. And therefore I believe, of course we will see a huge shift in the entire educational industry. But especially at this very young age, I don't believe that everything will be digital only. And we still need humans to provide this trust factor, to provide the safety factor, because otherwise it will be out of our hands.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:36:33]:
And all of us parents still want to have some control over what kids at that age do a little bit.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:36:41]:
Teasing out a contrarian view of you. What's one big assumption about edtech or early childhood learning that you believe is.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:36:49]:
Completely wrong and why so many still believe that children under the age of 3, under the age of 4 should avoid screen time entirely. And I personally believe quite the opposite because you can't. You just simply can't avoid it anymore. So therefore I believe that digital literacy is a new life skill and the question is not if, because they will come into contact with screens independent of what you try and what you do. So therefore the question is how? And we need safe, playful and valid screen time.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:37:26]:
Actually you can get in contact with screens just simply by driving on the bus, on the tram, in the subway.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:37:34]:
Yeah, and it's beautiful. I mean also facetiming with your grandparents, etc. It's just, it's also a form of screen time.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:37:43]:
Yes, you just need to get them to reply and to pick up the call. Sorry, personal memories here. Our audience if you guys out there were to build an ad tech startup today, what would your focus be on? Hybrid models, AI driven personalization, Teacher first platforms? Share your vote. We'll feature the results in our follow up newsletter. Let's go a little bit into the advice you have for other founders. What's your most important piece of advice to fellow founders? Building in trust sensitive industries. Edtech, Healthcare, fintech.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:38:22]:
So in trust sensitive industry I would say that product is about half the battle and the other half is credibility. So it's important to get the right partners, the right advisors and never underestimate also the power that a brand has.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:38:38]:
If you could redesign education for the next generation from scratch, no legacy systems, no regulators holding you back, what would it look like?
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:38:48]:
If I could redesign education, it would be curiosity first. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't provide a rigid curriculum. No fear of mistakes, no great systems so early on. So all about play, all about exploration. And also analog and digital tools designed to unlock creativity, not just consumption. That would be my ideal world to build everything around a very individual pace that every kid has.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:39:19]:
And the usual closing. Are you open to talk to any investors?
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:39:23]:
Always.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:39:25]:
Always. And are you currently looking for talented employees?
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:39:30]:
Yes, also always and at the moment, particularly in marketing and also in product. So if our vision and our cause resonates with you. Please reach out.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:39:41]:
Irene thank you very much. It was a pleasure having you here. Congratulations again to you. Stumm German Startup Awards. Hope to have you back in a few years talking about your progress and success here.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:39:52]:
Thank you so much. Jan.
Jörn "Joe" Menninnger | Founder, Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:39:58]:
That's all folks. Find more news streams, events and interviews@www.startuprad.IO. remember, sharing is caring.
Irene Klemm | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Edurino [00:40:10]:
Sam.
📝 Copyright: All rights reserved — Startuprad.io™
Comments