Early childhood educators are losing heart. Stressed, burnt out, slogging through hours of paperwork a week - and in many cases, falling out of love with the profession entirely.  

LoveHeart is using AI, voice notes, and “Coach Sue” to unstick educators from the hours’ worth of reporting and compliance they’re bound by each week, and keep them engaged with students rather than screens.

Meet the problem

Early childhood centres are cornerstones of communities, and critical checkpoints for childrens’ welfare. 

As such, they run a tight compliance ship. 

Founder Himal describes LoveHeart as a “super-intelligent AI aide to every childhood educator”... and assistance is needed. 

The education of a single child requires bible-thick stacks of reporting over the duration of their schooling.

Even pre-school requirements are a laundry list: assessment of developmental needs, interests, experiences, participation. And as they move up to secondary: daily reflections, learning portfolios, 6-monthly summatives…

And that’s before educators can even get to curriculum planning.

ECEs run on parent fees and government subsidies - but the subsidies follow the fees. 

If reporting is done poorly (read: in a forced rush), it can be the difference between attracting paying parents, or losing them to other schools. 

At worst, inadequate reporting can result in compliance action, fines, or licence suspension or cancellation. 

But more reporting = less actual teaching.

Losing teaching time is especially damaging in the early years, where children need highly reciprocal, interactive, colourful learning to develop their brains. 

And it’s damaging to educators - 26% of which are leaving the profession year-on-year. And for 50% of those attritions, it’s due to workload intensity.

Meet the team

We'd love to say founder and CEO Himal knows his industry very well… but it's more like he knows every industry very well.

Himal is a x3 EdTech founder with a rare combination of talents.

A corporate lawyer turned management consultant turned software engineer(!), Himal built the LoveHeart AI product himself. 

He used the proceeds from his first venture, Project Academy, to purchase several Early Childhood Education (ECE) centres that he runs with his mother - an early childhood educator he’s been assisting since his early years. 

(Founder-market fit is an understatement.) 

Himal is joined by Sales Lead Anand Rego - previously Head of HR at ANZ, and Head of Sales at Open University, and has raised previous investment from SunKids owner Abdul Omar, who runs 15 ECE centres in Queensland.

Meet the product

“The love of my life is gonna have to step aside. I've found LoveHeart.” - Anonymous LoveHeart customer

With testimonials like this, who needs salespeople? 

LoveHeart can turn a 30-60 minute summative assessment into a 5 minute job. 

And it’s saving educators as much as an hour a day.

Educators start by selecting their learning framework (EYLF, QKLG, VEYLDF) and philosophies (Montessori, Waldorf/Steiner, Cognitive Based) of choice.

For an AI tool, its interface is very human. It offers a simple space for diary entries, voice notes, plans, and reflections - just like scribbling in a diary. 

LoveHeart then takes the scribbles, creates titles, translates the content into letters and reports, and offers next-step activities. 

The idea isn’t to sound exactly like a human teacher, but to keep the human teacher actually teaching the kids. Parents and the government get all the information they need, and it’s done in minutes, not hours.

But it isn’t just about efficiency. 

LoveHeart is an ‘educator aide’ for those on the frontlines of education, responding to questions like, “What should I do if a child has stolen another child’s toy?”.

“Coach Sue” draws from online data, and the school’s configuration choices at set up. She helps educators critically reflect on learning outcomes and understand what could be improved for next time.

And if they’re stuck for ideas, want to reflect on their practices, or need help planning a learning environment, they can interact with Sue via Spaces to get the inspiration flowing.

There’s even a TikTok for tutorials, and a custom AI called Sentinel to monitor user behaviour, and prevent creation of fabricated or mass-produced documentation. In Himal's words:

“LoveHeart is not built by some engineer who has worked at Google and is now trying to figure out early education - it was created by, with, and for educators. Even the developing tech behind LoveHeart’s AI is all built by pedagogical and sector experts.”

Case study

Over a three-month platform trial with Childcare Alliance, educators enjoyed the online coaching tool, which provided insightful ideas for planning engaging activities that aligned with their educational program and their observations of the children.

The translation feature made it easier for educators to communicate with parents in their home languages, facilitating better relationships and enhanced communication with families.

Paul Mondo, President of Childcare Alliance said:

"The vast majority of educators choose this field due to their passion for educating children. We found that LoveHeart greatly assists our educators to meet their documentation requirements, while building their professional knowledge and skillsets."

Learning through play

During their first 5 months with us, the LoveHeart team has increased ARR by >100%, hired a Head of Engineering and Head of Growth, introduced an enterprise plan, and launched 3 enterprise pilots.

We’re all very excited about LoveHeart’s learning curve - but this isn’t just good business. 

LoveHeart has just won the State of our Sector award for the most significant contribution toward early childhood education.

That contribution looks like 65% of educators being more likely to stay in industry with the help of tools like LoveHeart. And 83% of LoveHeart’s users are already reporting improvements to their centres’ educational programs.

Turns out having calculators in our pockets hasn’t done us any harm - but AI is a whole different beast. 

“People we talk to have immediate reactions to AI based on content they’ve consumed. They come to us with concerns about the “authenticity” or “ethics” of using it. We’re proud to be providing perspective to peak bodies such as Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) on how AI can be embraced ethically while reducing educator workload. It is this mix that leads to transformative outcomes for children.”

Regulation entered schools to protect us from neglect. Now LoveHeart has entered schools to protect us from regulation. Skalata Investment Director Tom Smalley says:

“Trepidation around new tech is expected in industries with a duty of care. It takes a certain type of person to take products like this to market - i.e. a founder and advocate like Himal who has literally decades of in-industry credentials. Himal is exactly the kind of frontrunner we look for - LoveHeart’s competitors remain slow, and even when they do explore AI, they won’t be AI-native.”

We look forward to LoveHeart’s continued growth, and watching them help Jason Clare and the Aussie government play catch-up on the next frontier of education.