Coming to a student’s iPad near you: Boddle launches in Apple App Store as edtech startup celebrates third birthday

February 14, 2021  |  Startland News Staff

A Kansas City-generated gamified math education platform is expanding its user base this weekend as Boddle Learning debuts the high-profile startup’s long-awaited iOS app version.

The move is expected to most immediately benefit schools that use iPads, as well as parents at home who can now more-easily access the technology on mobile devices, said Edna Martinson, co-founder of Boddle.

[pullquote]

What is Boddle Learning?

Boddle offers a gamified approach to increasing student engagement while creating a virtual, immersive math environment. The technology’s unique AI operates on an adaptive algorithm that easily identifies each student’s individual learning gaps before adjusting assessment questions to target the skills that need reinforcement and are necessary to advance.  

Boddle was designed for positive reinforcement. Students’ game characters feature bottle-heads that fill up as they learn, which was designed to encourage them to fill up  on knowledge, as well as to value themselves and others for what they see on the inside. 

Click here to learn more about Boddle.

[/pullquote]

“This app launch is a  pivotal milestone for Boddle, and it fits perfectly with our commitment to increasing accessibility to engaging math practice for all students,” she said. “By releasing the app, we hope that Boddle can support more students during both remote and in-person learning and make it super fun for kids to practice and master math anywhere.”

Launching Boddle in the Apple App Store coincides with the startup’s third anniversary — Feb. 14, a fitting day for Martinson and co-founder/husband Clarence Tan — and comes as demands for remote learning resources and tools continue during the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing restrictions of in-person learning, she said.

Click here to download the app in the Apple App Store.

Identified as one of Startland News’ Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2020, Boddle experienced a surge in user adoption during  the pandemic and expanded its reach to 50,000-plus student sign-ups across all 50 U.S. states and 100 countries globally. 

In July, Boddle announced a $350,000 investment by Atento Capital — an infusion that required the leading Kansas City edtech startup to relocate to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to work more closely with the funder. Boddle previously received significant funding from AT&T and was a $50,000 finalist in the OHUB.KC accelerator.

Click here to read more about the Atento investment.

Boddle, however, remains connected to the Kansas City metro, Martinson told Startland News. Co-founder Tan on Thursday was announced as one of 13 new fellows for Kansas City-based Pipeline Entrepreneurs.

Click here to see the other five Kansas City founders entering Pipeline in 2021.

[divide]

This story is possible thanks to support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to create uncommon solutions and empower people to shape their futures and be successful.

For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect at www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn

Tagged , , , ,
Featured Business
    Featured Founder
      [adinserter block="4"]

      2021 Startups to Watch

        stats here

        Related Posts on Startland News

        KC startups graduate K-State accelerator, earning equity-free cash, greater conviction

        By Tommy Felts | September 4, 2025

        A trio of Kansas City-built ventures — from sports apparel and mental health solutions for young athletes to tech that uses autonomous drones and 3D vision AI — were among the Kansas businesses earning funding through an eight-week accelerator at Kansas State University. The Center for Entrepreneurship Accelerator program at K-State — which provides participants…

        LPOXY initiates $28M Series A financing with 5 Horizons Ventures to fund pivotal trial 

        By Tommy Felts | September 4, 2025

        PLATTE CITY, Mo. — Funding to secure the upcoming trial of a Missouri biopharmaceutical company’s solution for preventing a deadly gut infection could prove critical in the fight against a condition that claims 80 U.S. lives daily, said Dr. Larry Sutton. LPOXY Therapeutics, which is developing a novel non-antibiotic therapy to prevent Clostridioides difficile infections…

        When farmers get paid faster, everyone eats; HitchPin brings fintech to ag, good to humanity, founder says

        By Tommy Felts | September 3, 2025

        Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro.  [divide] The fintech revolution typically overlooks agriculture, Trevor McKeeman said, noting that any move to bring tools — like a payment platform within a digital marketplace — definitely breaks ground…

        Chocolate maker (and coffee roaster) earns bean-to-bar accolades from his Grandview base

        By Tommy Felts | September 3, 2025

        Kansas City has plenty of confectioners, but it’s rare to find true bean-to-bar work, Mike King said. That distinction makes Encore Coffee and Chocolate’s process both resourceful and extraordinary. “There’s only a few of us that are making our own chocolate,” said King, founder of Grandview-built Encore Coffee and Chocolate. “I consider myself a chocolate…