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

        Why this ‘monstrous Midwesterner’ started the presses for a sacred space in KC’s West Bottoms

        By Tommy Felts | June 20, 2025

        Editor’s note: The following story was produced through a paid partnership with MOSourceLink, which boasts a mission to help entrepreneurs and small businesses across the state of Missouri grow and succeed by providing free, easy access to the help they need — when they need it. [divide] Thayer Bray loves printmaking, but he gets just…

        Kansas City ESO icon Maria Meyers championed for bringing SourceLink to the world stage

        By Tommy Felts | June 20, 2025

        A decades-long effort to grow inclusive entrepreneurial communities by strengthening access to critical resources began as a grassroots movement in Kansas City, said Maria Meyers, whose work recently earned her global recognition — and a rare honor in recent years for an American recipient. Meyers, the founder of SourceLink — a first-of-its-kind platform boasting more…

        How this startup founder earned $200K in unrestricted, trust-based funding to transform KC’s relationship to food

        By Tommy Felts | June 19, 2025

        Long-term community change comes one meal at a time, acknowledged one of Attane Health’s biggest supporters, reflecting on the Kansas City startup’s growth from the “spark of an idea to a full-fledged solution” — ultimately earning its founder a game-changing funding boost. The St. Louis-based Missouri Foundation for Health this month announced its inaugural Spark Prize…

        Kauffman awards $5.8M funding pipeline to research how to close wealth gaps in KC, beyond

        By Tommy Felts | June 18, 2025

        Eight newly announced research grants from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation are expected to help catalyze research-based efforts aimed at growing equitable economic mobility in Kansas City, regionally, and nationally. More than $5.8 million in research funding will be disbursed over the next three years through this first round of grantmaking through Kauffman’s new research…