In today’s world of fierce competition, education has become as important as food for a child right from the beginning. If we provide the food we secure the present of a person. But, if we provide education, we secure a person‘s whole life. But at the same time, we can’t deny the fact that acquiring education is not an easy task for each one of us. Especially when we talk about people with less financial support. According to the renounce source, it is seen that one in every four children grow up without learning how to read well. And it is adamant that the children with not so good reading skills end up unsuccessful in their life. And it is just one out of many problems that are being faced by children while learning. There are 1 million other problems similar to this due to which it has become crucial for a child to start developing and learning educational skills as soon as possible. The earlier the better it is. In this article, we’ll dig deep into the Homer business model and get our answers to “How does Homer work?” and “How does Homer make money?”
Homer business model
When we talk about the Homer business model, it is clearly visible that the company has understood the educational gap discussed above and has come up with great and fun early learning programs for kids. Before moving on to answer the most desirous question i.e., “How does Homer work?”, we must discuss its business model and the initiatives took up by the company to enhance the learning skills of kids.
Learn with Homer, the number one reading skills enhancing program is doing wonders while trying to bring a change in this literacy gap and reducing it bit by bit. The best part about Homer is that they are seeking attention towards each individual, one by one. Their parent company, BEGiN, is already a renowned award-winning education technology company that creates engaging and effective learning products to provide the best quality education to young children. They are using the best technology to support their cause.
Homer provides the best educational start possible in terms of early learning. They mainly cover kids aging between 2 to 8 and help them build confidence mastery and change their perspective into a positive one towards learning. Knowledge, personal development, and motivation are the main regions that Homer provides to parents and supports them in delivering it to their children. The education they provide comes in fun and easy learning ways with the help of a tablet.
Homer has received 50 million USD from Lego, sesame workshop, and gym board forward learning apps. BEGiN, the start-up behind the Homer had primarily targeted the kids between two and eight. After receiving $50 million of funding the CEO Neal Shenoy explains that this will be used in creating “a systematic experience” in learning. The start-up has been present since 2013 and started with literacy apps. Even now, according to the claim by the company itself, their app is the most popular one for children under age 5 in the US. And this criteria still remains the primary source of focus for them but they have surely expanded from more than that and have been trying to cover more subject areas and they plan to expand further.
In an interview, the CEO Neal Shenoy said that they would be launching the industry’s first comprehensive early learning program. And this time they would not be limited to reading skills only. Instead, they would also extend in the field of maths, critical thinking, creativity, and Socio-emotional learning. They will be delivering these experiences across digital, physical, tangible products, and in-class mediums, they will focus on both serving the child and the parents and the relationship between them.
Now, when we talk about generating profits for two key girly night programs, the valuation of Omar, and begin itself, Is not being disclosed. But the company said that it has hundreds of thousands of subscribers already and is generating tens of millions of dollars in revenues. A factor to be clearly noticed is that the company has been lucky enough that time of this investment received by the company has been proved to be very advantageous. More than ever it could be.
We can’t deny the fact that tablets and smartphones have become the undifferentiable part of nowaday’s children’s lives and are also the primary source of spending free time. This is because although having many disadvantages, it has proved to be a lifesaver for the amount of stress people are facing by making their work easier. And this matter has only been more supported by the global pandemic of Covid 19. Children have to spend more time in their home and at school. Giving a tablet for early learning makes sure that all the time at home is being utilized correctly and positively. Homer is trying to utilize the interest of small kids towards these electronic devices in a fun learning experience. And parents now mostly working from home are finding it very useful for their children which has created a very positive approach towards this program.
This has also put a huge emphasis on rethinking how we can use tech-based tools. Using tablets and apps can really make a huge difference in a kid’s life especially. Learn With Homer uses animation and audio to model precise sounds of each phoneme — the sounds letters make — and relies on voice recording by the child. This enables children to hear the sounds of letters, see the movements of the mouth as it makes the sound, then record themselves making the sound and to play that back.
HOMER has been honored by Mom’s Choice Award, Parents’ Choice Award, and Common Sense Media, featured in The New York Times, Forbes, and USA Today, and named by Fast Company one of “The 10 most innovative education companies of 2021.”
“We want to help kids and parents in the early years when it matters most,” said Dua.” Every element of Learn with Homer serves a learning purpose. Our parent testers were blown away by how much their children enjoyed using Homer – and even more by how much their children learned.” Learn with Homer co-founder Stephanie Dua is a former CEO of the New York City Fund for Public Schools. Dua was also a senior advisor to David Coleman, the lead architect of the Common Core standards. Peggy Kaye, Director of Learning, is one of the country’s most respected childhood literacy experts. Homer’s lead developer, Iris Tang, is a former Senior Engineer at Google. Art Director Bee Johnson is a well-known illustrator. Homer Learning Inc. is backed by a Seed Series round of USD 2.2 million from a prestigious list of angel investors.
Joining up app makers with those who make educational physical objects is not a new thing per se: “educational toys,” as any parent knows, are a dime a dozen in terms of supply. But it’s interesting to see toymakers joining up with those who build entertainment content and other products for children for an even bigger-picture approach to identifying and building to address the challenge of how best to deliver some aspects of early-year education. Indeed, LEGO Ventures is a newish effort from the Danish modular toymaker, founded to help the company, now more than 70 years old, step into the next phase of how children learn and keep themselves entertained.
Who are Homer’s investors?
If we dig into the funding details, there are a number of strategic investors that have helped homer in achieving what it is today. The big names include LEGO Ventures, Trustbridge Partners, Sesame Workshop, Fenghuang Holdings, 3One4 Capital, and Interlock Partners. This doesn’t end here, the company claims to have $25 million contributing to trajectory-based funding for further growth of the company. The investors are also helping the startup with the planning of curriculum and making the distribution network for their product.
To sum up, the company has 12 in-total investors and has attained $52.2 million in 2 funding rounds. Liquidity Capital and Interlock Partners are the freshest investors of Homer. The data has been taken from Crunchbase.
How does Homer work?
Homer is a platform offering early learning programs that provide the best educational beginning to the little ones. It offers personalized/ customizable products for kids aging 2-8. Homer’s learning experts have come up with incredible learning methods to support parents in delivering effective knowledge, personal development, and motivation for the kids’ future ventures. It is a New York-based company extracting the best out of technology to create early learning programs that cultivate critical skills in children. As earlier mentioned, Homer is a product company of BEGiN, that creates effective and engaging learning methodologies to provide the highest quality education to young children. The expert learning team of the company is highly motivated and has immense knowledge and experience to develop early learning products and support learning everywhere.
Now, let’s move on to discuss, “How does Homer work?”. For that, we must look into the Homer products in detail:
- Learn and Grow: Learn and Grow is an app created by Homer. It takes the kids on a personalized learning journey to help them in boosting confidence and develop a good personality for their future endeavors. It is one of the most essential early learning programs of the platform. It features numerous lessons and engaging activities personalized to age, interest, and skill level for kids aging 2-8. It covers various subjects (reading, math, social-emotional learning, and more) in a playful manner to develop confidence among the kids. Additional to all these features, it also offers ad-free, kid-friendly navigation so that they can play and search through the app independently. These activities in the form of games are designed by experts that are backed by research and tested by kids.
- Learn and Play: Homer has collaborated with Fisher-Price, an American company that produces educational toys for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, with the aim of giving the best knowledge along with the play. This partnership has been working well for children aging 3-5 as this playful learning using toys helps in teaching ABCs, colors, shapes, and many other such things using fun activities. This app is also well-designed by the Homer experts to support kids through the early stages of learning and development using fun toys and activities. The app is again very kid-friendly and offers ad-free usage. It is created thoughtfully for safe digital learning and play.
- Explore Kits: Along with the above two apps, Homer also offers hands-on learning kits that helps in bringing lessons to life. These kits are also designed by Homer’s learning experts to teach learning and development skills in the best format to kids. It gives them (kids) a chance to apply learning in real life. Here are the various kits offered by home:
- Explore Letters Kit: Through this kit, children explore the ABC world. It lets the child’s imagination lead as they build literacy skills through play. This kit is perfectly suited for children aging 3-6. This kit includes a magnetic story box, 50 plus magnets+ bonus background, felt explorer headband, kaleidoscope toy camera, adventure postcards, alphabet card set, letters activity book, Crayons, and instructions.
- Explore Numbers Kit: These kits let children explore various numbers. It helps in practicing maths strategies through play to help children in developing confidence while solving maths problems. This is again best suited for kids aging 3-6. It develops practical skills like counting & numbers, operations & manipulatives, math confidence, and self-expression. It is a playground of numbers for children’s practical learning. This kit includes a magnetic story box, 50 plus magnets + bonus background, cotton play wallet with cards, play money, matching & counting card set, numbers activity book, crayons, and instructions.
- Explore Feelings Kit: This kit helps children in acknowledging various feeling that arises in the human beings during their life journey. This kit teaches them social-emotional skills through play to help him/ her practice for real life. This is also a kit for children aging 3-6 years. It helps in developing skills like identify feelings, develop self-awareness, social skills, and self-expression. This kit includes a magnet story box, 50 plus magnets with bonus background, felt yeti mask, color-in feelings forest map, conversation prompts with a bag, social-emotional matching cards, feelings activity book with crayons, and instructions.
To sum up the entire operation scheme of Homer, here are the broad subjects that the platform covers:
- Reading
- Maths
- Social and emotional learning
- Thinking skills
- Creativity
Following are the major features of the app as per the reviews given by the parents who used this platform for their kids:
- It is a personalized app for every child
- It has made learning- a fun activity
- With Homer, kids fall in love with reading
- The platform is proven to increase early reading scores
- It prepares a child for his/her school life
How does homer make money?
Homer makes money through its subscription-based revenue model. Let’s discuss it in detail to get accurate answers to “How does homer make money?”.
Parents love Homer just because it is affordable and an effective platform for their child’s development. At just $9.99/month (the cheapest monthly cost out of the three subscriptions), the parents have an opportunity to personalize their child’s learning journey and prepare them for their school life. The best part is that the platform offers 1 month free trial for kids and parents to test whether they are compatible and satisfied with their services or not. Here are the three subscription offers of the company:
- $9.99 – monthly subscription
- $59.99 – annual subscription
- $99.99- annual digital + hands-on bundle subscription
Various membership offers are:
- Unlimited access to Homer’s Learn & Grow App
- Up to 4 child profiles on the platform
- Offline activities and printables availability
- Other resources and helpful tips from Homer’s learning experts
Conclusion
HOMER’s vision and approach towards playful learning promote curiosity and collaboration in children. Other companies targeting bigger age groups in joining their educational programs online, Homer has been smart enough to go for the least demanding group, thereby eliminating the competition itself. This success can be felt with a 280% increase in annual subscriptions, a 230% increase in website subscriptions, and children accessing 30% more lessons than this time last year. (Overall, the company has had 80%+ year-over-year growth since launch.)
“With its focus on research and kid-centric design, and expansion to embrace the whole child curriculum, HOMER’s approach reflects the mission of Sesame Workshop to help kids grow smarter, strong and kinder,” said Steve Youngwood, President of Media and Education, and chief operating officer of Sesame Workshop, in a statement. “We’re excited to support HOMER’s growth and to look for further ways to partner with them to give young children the best possible start at a critical time of their learning and development.”
If you are willing to launch a subscription-based kids’ education platform similar to Homer. Ncrypted Technologies has the right solutions developed by our capable and innovative workforce. We offer customized and innovative features as per your requirement to let you launch a successful subscription-based kids’ education platform.
