Kimche places as Latin American semifinalist at Global Edtech Startups Awards

Contxto – Not only is bullying a global problem concerning kids but also parents and teachers. With the evolution of edtech, however, a startup was bound to create a solution.

Identifying cases of bullying, dropouts, absences, as well as performance issues, Kimche is a Chilean startup with a promising edtech solution. Earlier today, Chilean news sources revealed that Kimche will compete as a Latin American semifinalist in the Global Edtech Startups Awards (GESA).

Edtech solution

Meaning “wise” in the Mapuche language, Kimche is an edtech leveraging AI and Big Data to combat school bullying as well as other academic issues. With its software, users can better identify cases of bullying, dropouts, absences, in addition to overall school performance.

Consisting of computer and mobile monitoring systems, the software also automates various educational processes, such as attendance and grading documents.

Moving forward, the Latin American semifinals will happen on November 9. While not taking place at a structured event, GESA administrators will select which regional startup will compete at the finals. Depending on which Latin American edtech is chosen, it will contend with others at the grand finale in London this January.

However, this isn’t the first time Kimche and its founders Lucas Espinoza and Sebastián Arentse have been in the spotlight. Both engineers from Catholic University, the school recently recognized them for their edtech leadership among 100 other Chilean students.

Needless to say, Kimche is more than ready to participate at GESA.  

“It is a recognition for daring to be the first to use Artificial Intelligence to reduce the workload of teachers,” shared Espinoza after learning that Kimche will compete in GESA as a semifinalist. “At the end of the day, they are the ones who are changing the world.”

Equipped with Kimche’s mobile solution for iOS and Android phones, educators can effectively speed-up administrative tasks. For example, reviewing teaching evaluations and tracking classroom attendance. Even better, grades can be automatically uploaded to the platform.

For future plans, Kimche engineers are also reportedly developing facial recognition features for the platform. This way, the app will be able to detect students’ emotions during class.

GESA 2019

This year, GESA received and evaluated over 600 startup applications. From this batch, about 100 were technological initiatives from Latin America.

With GESA, disruptive and innovative edtechs will gather to celebrate some of today’s most promising solutions. Created in collaboration with MindCET, Open Education Challenge, and EdTech UK, the event aims to give edtech startups a “global voice” throughout the industry.

Led by education and innovation organizations from around the globe, GESA strives to empower local edtechs while providing them with connections to the international market.

“The awards will identify, showcase and recognize the world’s most promising edtech startups for 2019,” as stated on the event’s website. 

In the end, the first-place winner will go home with US$100,000 in Cloud Credits sponsored by Google. Even more, whoever comes out victorious will receive support from AWS Edstart to scale the startup.

Similarly, the first and second runner-ups will earn US$20,000 in Cloud Credits, while finalists can anticipate US$3,000. All the while, successful startups will receive PR, mentorship, among other perks. These include business development opportunities, not to mention global exposure.

-CZ