UCL’s ‘most promising startup’ Musemio are ones to watch in the world of virtual reality

Since being announced as the ‘Most Promising Startup’ at the 2019 UCL Awards for Innovation and Enterprise in May, Musemio are proving why they're worthy award winners.

Cofounded by UCL Alumna Kaitlin Fritz (MA History of Art) and Olga Kravchenko, Musemio is developing innovative mobile virtual reality games that allow children to explore arts and culture. Since forming in 2018 they’ve had an incredibly impressive first year.

Receiving funding, mentoring and support from Sky

Olga Kravchenko is one of only five women to secure a place in the second cohort of the Sky Women in Tech Scholars. The scheme offers £25,000 in funding to a select few women to fund their tech idea, along with support and mentorship from Sky’s plentiful resources.

“VR is a unique medium that mesmerises a child’s imagination. During our research, conducted together with the UCL Educate Programme and xEdu, we found that it improves retention of the knowledge acquired with the experience, helps with attention spans and can help children to understand and relate to a subject better,” Olga told the Evening Standard.

“Kaitlin and I are extremely excited to explore how we can potentially collaborate with Sky to develop a plan to reach UK parents and help them to bring up the citizens of tomorrow.”

An impressive first year and a bright future

After winning the UCL Launch £10,000 programme in the summer of 2018, and with continued support from UCL Innovation & Enterprise, Musemio have had an outstanding first year.

As well as being accepted into the Sky Women in Tech Scholars, they’ve secured over £30,000 in funding, from angel investment and being in Bethnal Green Ventures, a social enterprise accelerator programme. This accelerator helps talented teams launch and scale tech-for-good ventures that will significantly improve millions of lives. 

Musemio is built upon pedagogy developed from research at UCL’s Institute of Education’s Educate Program and Finland’s world-renowned xEDU educational accelerator programme. They’re currently working with over 3000 pupils across the UK and global cultural partners ranging from the Hellenic Museum of Technology to the UCL Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology.

Commenting on the news, Yuliana Topazly, Business Acceleration Advisor at UCL Innovation & Enterprise, said: “Each year, UCL produces a huge talent pool of future innovators, leaders and entrepreneurs and it’s our mission to help unlock and support their potential to create an impact in the wider world. It’s incredibly gratifying to see the impact and progress Kaitlin and Olga have made in their first year. It’s a testament to their hard work, determination and boundless creativity. I wish them, both continued success in the future.”

Links

• Musemio's website
• Article about Musemio in the Evening Standard

Find out more about:

• how UCL Innovation & Enterprise can help you start and grow a business
• the 2019 UCL Awards for Innovation and Enterprise

Photos © Musemio