FriendsLearn

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FriendsLearn
Company typePrivate
IndustrymHealth
Startup
Founded2011
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California United States of America
Number of locations
2
Key people
Bhargav Sri Prakash, Founder and CEO
Productsfooya
Number of employees
14
Websitewww.friendslearn.com

FriendsLearn is a privately held life science research and biotechnology mHealth company, with offices in San Francisco California and Chennai.[1][2] The company was founded in 2011 and develops mobile health technologies, best known as the producer and developer of fooya!.[3] FriendsLearn is a pioneer of Digital Vaccines, which Carnegie Mellon University featured as one of the top breakthroughs in technology as part of the annual "Year in Review" publication.[4] The company is known for first in class therapeutic candidates in the field of neuromodulation and neurocognitive training[5][6] through the use of artificial intelligence, virtual reality technology, neuropsychology based behavior design,[7][8] gamification[9] and learnified[10] entertainment.

FriendsLearn is the founding research translation and innovation partner of Carnegie Mellon University's Digital Vaccine Project.[11][12]

FriendsLearn and Carnegie Mellon University won the 2022 Transformative Business Award by the Financial Times and the World Bank's International Finance Corporation for their pioneering deep tech breakthroughs with Digital Vaccines under the category of Frontiers Market Solutions.[13] They were chosen by a panel of eminent judges from 219 nominations at a ceremony in London.

Founding[edit]

The company was founded by Bhargav Sri Prakash[14] when he was a fellow of the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City. The United States Department of State and EducationUSA awarded FriendsLearn a contract to design and produce a gamified application based on a track record of the founder's previous company in gamified student recruitment. "Your 5 Steps to US Study" was launched in 2012 and is distributed around the world by US Consulates and EducationUSA centers.[15]

Mobile Health & Behavior Design[edit]

FriendsLearn has produced and designed the mobile app fooya,[16] which is the product of the company's innovations in 'learnified' gaming and was presented at the 2014 Stanford MedicineX Conference[17] under a session titled "Scalable Behavior Design through Mobile Gaming".

Health outcomes of clinical trials conducted by researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine's Children's Nutrition Research Center were presented at The Obesity Society's 2014 ObesityWeek Conference in Boston.[18]

In 2014, the company entered into a collaborative partnership with the 2014 ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp[19] and was used to promote healthy choices among middle school campers from across the United States.

The company was featured at the Bloomberg Next Big Thing Conference in 2013 as an emerging startup in health gaming.[20][21]

Fooya was first launched as a Facebook App in 2012 at the DEMO Conference in Silicon Valley[22] and successfully raised over $50,000 through a crowd funding campaign[23] via Kickstarter[24]

Reciprocity Wave[edit]

The Reciprocity Wave, a program conceived by Architect. Sheila Sri Prakash, is a Sculpture Competition where students create art work with recycled materials to sensitize the public about social and environmental issues that need immediate attention. Shilpa Architects have already conducted three such initiatives, two in Chennai [25][26] and one in Bangalore.[27][28] The most recent initiative at Cubbon Park, Bangalore, brought to light various issues ranging from corruption to women's rights, and gained attention from the Bangalore Media for the powerful concept and impact that it created. Many of the leading daily's published a series of articles about the event and also covered the competition at length. The event also included a Health Gaming Championship involving fooya!, in partnership with FriendsLearn.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Cromwell Schubarth (31 May 2013). "FriendsLearn Show Food Fights can be Educational". Silicon Valley American City Business Journals.
  2. ^ Sushila Ravindranath (21 March 2017). "Healthy lifestyle choices: Fooya helps change kids' behaviour towards food in a fun way". Financial Express.
  3. ^ "Feeding Health Tips through Gaming". The Hindu Business Line. 28 August 2013.
  4. ^ Scott Barsotti (December 2018). "Can Kids Game their Way to Better Health?". Carnegie Mellon University.
  5. ^ Kato-Lin, Yi-Chin; Kumar, Uttara Bharath; Sri Prakash, Bhargav; Prakash, Bhairavi; Varadan, Vasini; Agnihotri, Sanjeeta; Subramanyam, Nrutya; Krishnatray, Pradeep; Padman, Rema (18 November 2020). "Impact of Pediatric Mobile Game Play on Healthy Eating Behavior: Randomized Controlled Trial". JMIR mHealth and uHealth. 8 (11): e15717. doi:10.2196/15717. PMC 7710449. PMID 33206054.
  6. ^ Josephine Tolin (14 January 2020). "Engineering Alum Promotes Childhood Health Education through Digital Vaccines". University of Michigan.
  7. ^ Stanford MedicineX (6 July 2015). "Neuropsychology based Behavior Design through Mobile Health Gaming". Stanford University School of Medicine.
  8. ^ Childhood Obesity Conference (28 June 2015). "Impact of a Neuropsychology based approach to behavior design through mobile gaming (pg 68)" (PDF). 2015 Childhood Obesity Conference.
  9. ^ Alex Landa (22 March 2013). "Fooya, the Crowdfunded Game from India to Teach Healthy Eating".
  10. ^ Dean Takahashi (20 April 2012). "FriendsLearn teaches you through social and mobile games". Venturebeat.
  11. ^ "Digital Vaccines". Carnegie Mellon University. 6 July 2020.
  12. ^ "Mobile game that uses implicit learning improved children's short-term food choices". National Collaborative for Childhood Obesity Research. 10 February 2021.
  13. ^ Nadya Nikiforova (26 October 2022). "2022 FT/IFC Transformational Business Awards Winners Announced". International Finance Corporation.
  14. ^ Victor Rivero (6 February 2012). "You and Your Friendslearn: Interview with Victor Rivero". EdTech Digest.
  15. ^ Julie Blaustein (21 March 2012). "Ignition West 2012".
  16. ^ Christina Farr (21 April 2012). "Game dynamics to tackle obesity". The Next Web.
  17. ^ "Scalable Behavior Design through Mobile Gaming". Stanford. 4 September 2014. Archived from the original on 27 March 2015.
  18. ^ 2014 ObesityWeek Abstract Book (2 November 2014). "A Nutrition Education Mobile Game Impacts Snack Selection in Middle School Students" (PDF). The Obesity Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. ^ 2014 Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp (1 June 2014). "A Partnership for Healthy Choices in Youth". The Harris Foundation.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. ^ Bloomberg Live. "Hot Technology Companies from Silicon Valley". Bloomberg.
  21. ^ Bloomberg. "Startups Pitch to Investors". Business Week.
  22. ^ "FriendsLearn Launches Facebook 'Food Fight' as Part of 'Hot' Social Apps Presenting at DEMO Spring 2012 in Silicon Valley". Yahoo. 20 April 2012.
  23. ^ Dean Takahashi (17 March 2013). "FriendsLearn wrapping up its Kickstarter for food-fight". Venturebeat.
  24. ^ "Fooya with Friends: The Epic 3D-Multiplayer Food Fight". Kickstarter. 21 March 2013.
  25. ^ Express News Service (5 March 2013). "Reciprocity Wave art competition". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on December 18, 2013.
  26. ^ Chief Correspondent (11 March 2013). "Artistry flourishes in Reciprocity Wave's second venture". Chennaionline.
  27. ^ Nandini Sundar (2 October 2013). "Being the change". The Hindu.
  28. ^ DHNS (2 October 2013). "When Creations from Castaways Had Messages". Deccan Herald.
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