Tech for Early Learning

Renaissance Adds Early Literacy Web App

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 04/09/21

Education technology company Renaissance has acquired Lalilo, an early literacy company that was started in Paris in 2016 by three graduates of École Polytechnique with a goal of ending illiteracy. Terms of the deal were not made public.

Lalilo produces a web-based literacy app for K-2 teachers and students. The program offers "visually engaging" activities to help students develop their phonological and phonemic awareness, letter and word recognition, comprehension and fluency, vocabulary, writing and social literacy. Teachers get data tracking and planning tools. The basic service is free for teachers; a premium edition adds extra features, including additional data reporting functionality.

"Lalilo is designed to work as a complement to any teacher's instructional method and curriculum, and supports students in elements that are critical to success in literacy learning," said Laurent Jolie, co-founder of Lalilo, in a press release. "Together, Renaissance and Lalilo share a similar mission of accelerating learning for all children — no matter where learning happens. We are excited to join Renaissance and expand the reach of Lalilo to help children worldwide develop essential skills for literacy success."

"Reading to learn has been our area of expertise for 35 years," added Todd Brekhus, chief product officer at Renaissance. "With the addition of Lalilo, we will deliver an exceptional solution to our most common customer request — that we provide a powerful early learning solution to support students who are learning to read."