A Curiosity Learning Labs product
Abakhi — Builders of Worlds

Builders of Worlds

The first learning world designed specifically for neurodivergent & Dual/Multi-Exceptional minds

Where curriculum knowledge is hidden inside an adventure children actually want to live.

Scroll to explore
✦ ── ✦

The Problem

The first learning world designed specifically for neurodivergent and Dual/Multi-Exceptional minds — and the system that's finally ready to serve them.

🏠
0
Children in Elective Home Education in England
↑ Growing 22% year-on-year
0
Increase in SEND referrals since 2016
System is overwhelmed
📋
0
of Alternative Provision pupils have an unmet SEND need
87,000 AP placements in 2023
🌱
1 in 50
pupils affected by Emotionally Based School Avoidance
Rising sharply post-pandemic
1 in 6
gifted children also have a learning difference — Dual/Multi-Exceptional
~130,000 in UK schools — almost entirely unidentified

"Traditional education was not designed for curious minds, divergent thinkers or children who learn through doing. Abakhi was."

✦ ── ✦

Enter Abakhi

A living, breathing world where knowledge is hidden inside ancient systems — waiting for a Builder brave enough to restore it.

✦ ABAKHI ✦
🌿 Ecosystems Restored: 3/12 💰 Resources: 847

A World Built for Curious Minds

Abakhi is a post-apocalyptic fantasy world where children step through the portal and become Umaki — Builders of Worlds. The world is broken: ancient systems have failed, ecosystems collapsed, communities scattered. Only through knowledge, creativity and courage can it be restored.

Every puzzle solved, every alliance forged, every trading path discovered teaches real skills — curriculum subjects and life competencies alike — because children are too engaged in the world to notice they're learning.

🧩 Solve Problems 🔧 Build & Create 🌍 Restore Worlds 💰 Trade & Barter 🤝 Negotiate & Collaborate 🌿 Conserve & Protect
✦ ── ✦

The World of Abakhi

A post-apocalyptic realm of four elemental kingdoms, shattered by an ancient catastrophe — and waiting to be restored.

In the age before memory, the world of Abakhi was held in perfect balance by four great elemental forces — maintained by the ancient Umaki, the original Builders of Worlds. Then came The Great Unravelling. The elemental systems collapsed. The lava channels ran cold. The rivers reversed. The great mechanical engines fell silent. The floating sky-forests began to fall.

The Umaki scattered — their knowledge hidden inside the broken systems they left behind, waiting for someone curious enough to find it. You are a Umaki. A new Builder of Worlds. The question is not whether you can restore it. The question is: what do you have the energy for today?

🔥
Elemental Realm — Fire

Ignarath — The Molten Deep

"Beneath the surface, the world still burns. Find the channels. Restore the flow."

A subterranean realm of bioluminescent lava pits, ancient thermal channels and volcanic cave networks. The lava once powered the Umaki's great forges across all four realms. Now the channels have fractured — dangerous in some places, entirely cold in others.

Physics — Heat & Energy Chemistry — Materials Engineering
🧙 Kael the Ember-Keeper ⚙️ Thessan the Forge Engineer 🧪 Mira the Lava Alchemist 🛒 Brix the Deep Trader
💧
Elemental Realm — Water

Aqueth — The Shattered Tides

"The rivers forgot their way. Teach them to flow again."

A vast realm of fractured lakes, reversed rivers, collapsed waterfalls and flooded lowlands. Once the most fertile realm in Abakhi, its water systems have fallen into chaos. The great cascades that powered mills and irrigated everything now flow backwards — or not at all.

Geography — Water Cycle Biology — Ecosystems Conservation
🌊 Seren of the Deep Current 🗺️ Finn the River Navigator 🧪 Lysa the Water Alchemist 🛒 Old Corvin the Marsh Trader
⚙️
Elemental Realm — Earth

Terrath — The Mechanical Ruins

"The machines remember what their makers forgot. Listen to them."

A vast subterranean network of mechanical ruins, collapsed caves and abandoned Umaki engineering. Once the industrial heart of Abakhi, its silent moss-covered engines hold the knowledge of how the whole world was built — and how it might be rebuilt.

Engineering — Mechanisms Computing — Logic Geology
⚙️ Master Grundar the Gearkeeper 🔧 Renna Ironveil the Engineer 🧪 Dustin the Stone Alchemist 🛒 Vex the Salvager
🌬️
Elemental Realm — Air

Aeriveth — The Falling Skies

"The sky-forests are sinking. What rises must learn to hold itself aloft."

The most spectacular and most endangered realm — floating ecosystems, cloud forests and sky archipelagos slowly descending since The Unravelling damaged the wind-current systems keeping them aloft. Some islands have already fallen. Others are tilting.

Physics — Forces & Flight Astronomy Environmental Ethics
🌬️ Zephyra the Sky-Warden 🌿 Luma Driftwood the Naturalist 🧪 Skye Voss the Wind Alchemist 🛒 Pip the Wandering Trader
✦ ── ✦

Beyond the Curriculum

Abakhi doesn't just teach what schools require — it teaches what life demands.

Abakhi is grounded in core KS2 and KS3 curriculum objectives — not as a one-to-one mapping, but as a living system where the most important things are learned deeply, through genuine curiosity, rather than everything being covered shallowly. Every world activity, quest and interaction is a carefully designed opportunity to develop real-world competencies — naturally embedded in the world, never forced.

📚

Curriculum Mastery

Core subjects — maths, literacy, science and more — are woven seamlessly into every quest and puzzle. Learning happens because children want to solve the problem, not because they have to.

💰

Financial Literacy

Players navigate real trading pathways — buying, selling, bartering and managing resources across the Abakhi world. Economic thinking, risk assessment and value judgement are learned through play, not lectures.

🗣️

Communication & Negotiation

Every NPC interaction is a masterclass in communication. Players negotiate alliances, collaborate on missions and navigate complex social dynamics — building the articulation and persuasion skills that no textbook can teach.

🌿

Environmental Stewardship

Restoring the broken world of Abakhi means restoring its ecosystems. Players learn cause-and-effect thinking, resource sustainability and environmental responsibility — because the world's survival depends on their choices.

🤝

Humanitarian Values

Abakhi's world is filled with displaced communities, struggling systems and those in need. Players make decisions that affect populations — building empathy, social justice thinking and a genuine understanding of global citizenship.

🧠

Executive Function & Resilience

Planning quests, managing inventories, adapting to setbacks and persisting through boss challenges — Abakhi quietly builds the planning, self-regulation and resilience skills that neurodivergent learners especially need to thrive.

"The most powerful learning happens when children don't realise they're learning at all."
✦ ── ✦

Core Pedagogy

A bespoke learning architecture — not borrowed from a single theory, but built specifically for curious, divergent and Dual/Multi-Exceptional minds.

Abakhi's pedagogy is grounded in six evidence-based frameworks, each chosen for its direct relevance to the neurodivergent learner profile. These frameworks are woven invisibly into the world — children experience the outcomes without ever encountering the theory. Aligned to core KS2 & KS3 objectives — not as a one-to-one mapping, but as deep, genuine engagement with what matters most.

01
🔍

Curiosity-Driven Constructivism

Knowledge is not delivered — it is discovered. Every quest is an invitation to construct meaning through doing. Children build mental models of the world by restoring the world.

PiagetVygotskyZPD
02
🧭

Regulation-First Learning

No child is asked to learn while dysregulated. The Regulation Check-in adapts difficulty, tone and pace to the child's current state — grounded in Zones of Regulation and Polyvagal Theory.

Zones of RegulationPolyvagal Theory
03
🎯

Universal Design for Learning

Multiple means of engagement, representation and expression. Whether a child learns through building, trading, storytelling or puzzle-solving — all routes reach the same curriculum outcomes.

UDLInclusive Design
04
⚙️

Project-Based & Experiential Learning

Every mission is a sustained project. Restoring an ecosystem requires ecology. Rebuilding a trading post requires arithmetic. Learning is the tool; the quest is the purpose.

PBLDewey
05
🏆

Mastery-Based Progression

No grades. No tests. Only levels of mastery unlocked through demonstrated competence. Failure is replaced with the certainty of eventual success — at the child's own pace.

BloomGrowth MindsetDweck
06

Strengths-Based & DME Pedagogy

Gifts are challenged and differences accommodated — simultaneously. Abakhi rewards divergent thinking and creative problem-solving while providing scaffolding and sensory-aware pacing.

DME PedagogyStrengths-Based

Core Curriculum Coverage — KS2 & KS3

Key Stage 2  ·  Ages 7–11
  • Number, fractions & ratio via trading systems
  • Written & spoken language via NPC dialogue & quest logs
  • Living things & habitats via ecosystem restoration
  • Forces & mechanisms via mechanical ruins
  • Computing & logical reasoning via puzzle systems
  • Geography — human & physical via biome exploration
  • History — ancient civilisations via world lore
  • PSHE — identity & relationships via community quests
Key Stage 3  ·  Ages 11–14
  • Algebra & data analysis via resource economics
  • Reading, writing & rhetoric via negotiation & lore
  • Chemistry & materials via alchemy systems
  • Biology — ecosystems via interdependence quests
  • Physics — energy transfer via lava, water & air realms
  • Geography — sustainability via climate & conservation
  • Citizenship — governance & justice via world politics
  • RSHE — emotional regulation via Regulation Check-in
✦ ── ✦

Characters & Companions

Every character in Abakhi is a narrative vehicle for learning — each carrying specific knowledge, challenging specific skills, and reflecting the values of their realm.

🧑‍🚀
Player Character

The Umaki

The Umaki were the original Builders of Worlds — the ancient creators who built Abakhi's great systems before The Great Unravelling. The player is a new Umaki: an outsider who has crossed through the portal to continue their legacy. Fully customisable: skin tone, face, hair, and elemental sigil markings earned by restoring each realm. No fixed gender.

CuriousResourcefulBrave enough to question
🦎
Companion

Luma

A small, gently glowing axolotl-like creature — the last being created by the Umaki before they scattered. Luma carries fragments of ancient knowledge and acts as guide, companion and emotional anchor. Never intrusive, always present. Floats at shoulder height and mirrors the emotional tone of each session.

Gentle hints when stuckCelebrates masteryRegulation companion

Each of the four biomes contains the same six NPC archetypes — same roles, different faces, shaped entirely by their elemental realm and its knowledge domain.

🧙

The Elder

Keeper of Lore & Wisdom

The oldest surviving Umaki-trained native. Speaks in riddles and parables — players must decode their wisdom to unlock ancient repairs. The primary vehicle for deep curriculum content.

🔧

The Engineer

Builder & Problem-Solver

A practical craftsperson who gives players technical repair quests — teaching science and maths through doing. Rewards: new tools, upgraded gear, access to deeper biome areas.

🧪

The Alchemist

Transformer of Materials

A scientist-philosopher who combines elements to create new substances and solutions. Introduces chemistry, biology and materials science through experimentation. Always found somewhere extraordinary.

🛒

The Trader

Economic Architect

Buys, sells, barters and brokers — teaching financial literacy through lived experience. Supply and demand, fair exchange, negotiation. Morally interesting. Not always entirely trustworthy.

🌿

The Community

Humanitarian & Social Fabric

Families, farmers, displaced wanderers. They represent the human cost of The Great Unravelling. Players' choices directly affect their wellbeing — the vehicle for empathy and humanitarian values.

⚔️

The Guardian

Challenge & Boss Mechanic

Not a villain — a protector. Tests whether the Abakhi has truly earned the right to restore what lies ahead. Boss encounters require mastery of the biome's core learning before passage is granted.

✦ ── ✦

How It Works

Four steps from lost learner to Builder of Worlds.

01
🧭

The Regulation Check-in

Before every session, Abakhi asks a simple question: "What do you have the energy for today?" The child's response — not a test score — sets the difficulty, pace and emotional tone of that session. Learning starts where the child actually is.

✦ Unique to Abakhi
02
🌀

Enter the World

The child steps through the portal into Abakhi — a living, broken world waiting to be restored. No instructions, no pressure. Just an open world and the burning question: what do you want to do?

03
⚙️

Explore, Challenge & Build

Curiosity leads the way. Every path reveals new systems to restore, communities to help, resources to trade and knowledge to unlock — all mapped to curriculum goals behind the scenes.

04
🌍

Restore the World

Progress is measured in worlds saved — and skills gained. Parents and providers see real-time dashboards of exactly what's been learned, while children collect proof of their growing mastery.

🧭

The Regulation Check-in — A World First

Most edtech platforms deliver the same experience regardless of how a child is feeling. Abakhi is different. At the start of every session, a gentle on-screen check-in reads the child's current emotional and energy state — and the entire session adapts in response. High energy? Tackle a boss challenge. Low energy? Explore, create, or restore something beautiful. This isn't just good UX — it's grounded in co-regulation theory and is especially transformative for neurodivergent learners who experience significant day-to-day variability.

✦ ── ✦

The Screen Time Question

There is a lot of noise about screen time. Most of it is not about your child.

The screen time debate was built around neurotypical children in unstructured digital environments — passive consumption, social media, infinite scroll. That conversation is legitimate. But it has almost nothing to do with a neurodivergent child who loses themselves for four hours in a complex world, solving systems, building structures, mastering lore.

For many neurodivergent and Dual/Multi-Exceptional children, screens are not the problem. Screens are the regulation. The research increasingly says so — and the families living this know it to be true.

THE GENERALISED CONCERN

Screen time is harmful and should be limited

For neurotypical children in passive, unstructured digital environments — particularly social media — there is meaningful evidence for concern. Guidelines from the AAP and authors like Jonathan Haidt have shaped this narrative.

VS
THE NEURODIVERGENT REALITY

One-size-fits-all guidelines miss the point entirely

Research from the Child Mind Institute, Springer Nature and Children and Screens consistently finds that for neurodivergent children, screens serve fundamentally different functions — regulation, safety, mastery and connection.

What Screens Actually Provide for Neurodivergent Children

🛡️

Predictability & Safety

The screen behaves the same way every time. No unexpected social demands. No sensory ambiguity. For an anxious or sensory-sensitive nervous system, this is inherently and genuinely regulating — not escapism.

🎛️

Agency & Control

They decide what happens next. For children whose days are filled with external demands and unpredictable environments, a space where their choices have consistent consequences is restorative.

🌊

Flow State Access

Neurodivergent brains are often either under or over-stimulated. The right digital environment hits the regulation sweet spot that real-world environments rarely provide — and sustains it for hours. This is not addiction. This is a nervous system finding its equilibrium.

🏆

Mastery Without Humiliation

Fail privately. Retry immediately. Succeed at your own pace. No audience. No shame. For children whose relationship with failure has been shaped by years of public struggle in classrooms, this changes everything.

🔥

Intrinsic Motivation

The engagement is self-generated, not coerced. A child who chooses to spend four hours understanding a complex system is demonstrating exactly the kind of sustained, deep curiosity that education should cultivate — not suppress.

🎚️

Sensory Regulation

Research from Children and Screens identifies neurodivergent children as significantly more likely to use screens for sensory regulation. Reducing screen time without providing alternative sensory supports is, as researchers note, a very, very difficult endeavour.

What the Research Says

The Child Mind Institute finds that for neurodivergent children, screens offer a sense of safety and predictability in an overwhelming world — and that screen-based activities have clear benefits for learning, socialisation and wellbeing.

Child Mind Institute, 2026

Neurodivergent children engage with digital media at least as much if not more than neurotypical children — but for fundamentally different reasons. Conversations should be driven less by popular opinion and more by evidence-based approaches.

Springer Nature, 2024

Approximately 40% of neurodivergent children are high sensory curators — using screens specifically to regulate sensory input. This is significantly more common among neurodivergent children than their neurotypical peers.

Harrison et al., Media Psychology, 2019

The American Academy of Pediatrics revised its guidelines in 2016 to move away from strict time limits, recognising that the quality and context of screen time matters — not simply the duration.

AAP, 2016

Autistic children may have a qualitatively different relationship with electronic media altogether — not one simply explained by mood or avoidance.

Menezes et al., Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2023
✦ ── ✦

Who It's For

Built for the learners the system has left behind — and the families and providers fighting for them.

🏠

EHE Families

Over 300,000 families have chosen Elective Home Education, many because traditional schooling simply failed their children. Abakhi gives them a structured, engaging, curriculum-aligned tool that fits around their child — not the other way around.

  • Flexible, self-paced learning
  • Full curriculum coverage
  • Parental progress dashboard

Dual/Multi-Exceptional Learners

DME children are gifted and have learning differences — ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia. They're simultaneously ahead of and behind their peers. Abakhi meets them exactly where they are, in a world designed to reward how they naturally think.

  • Multiple learning pathways
  • No fixed progression pace
  • Rewards divergent thinking
🏛️

Alternative Provision

87,000 pupils are in AP placements — often disengaged, excluded or at risk. Abakhi provides AP providers with a powerful engagement tool that rekindles curiosity, rebuilds confidence and delivers measurable learning outcomes.

  • Evidence-based reporting
  • SEND-aware design
  • Provider management tools
🌱

EBSA Young People

Emotionally Based School Avoidance affects an estimated 1 in 50 pupils — children whose anxiety, overwhelm or trauma makes attending school feel impossible. Abakhi meets them at home, on their terms, in a world that feels safe. No classroom pressure. No social performance. Just a world that says: you belong here.

  • Low-pressure entry point
  • Regulation Check-in every session
  • Rebuilds confidence through mastery
  • Designed for use within EHE, AP, EOTAS and LA-commissioned pathways
✦ ── ✦

The Founder

The Builder Behind the World

TP

Talja Parkinson

Founder & CEO
Curiosity Learning Labs
Neurodivergent Parent Complex Data Systems EHE Experience SEND Advocacy Lived DME Journey Proof of Concept: My Own Children
"
I didn't set out to build an edtech platform. I set out to find one that worked for my children — and discovered it didn't exist.

Abakhi was not designed in a boardroom. It was lived before it was built.

As a neurodivergent parent of three neurodivergent children, the gaps in provision aren't abstract statistics — they are lived, daily realities. Through periods of elective home education, reduced timetables and SEND referrals, the same pattern repeated: platforms that promised personalised learning but delivered school, online. Night Zookeeper. BBC Bitesize. Quizlet. EdPlace. Each one a variation on the same assumption — that the child who couldn't engage with traditional education simply needed the same content presented on a screen.

But here is what I actually observed in my children — the same children those platforms couldn't reach.

✦ The Proof of Concept Has Been Running in My Living Room for Years

🎮 Destiny

My oldest could lose himself for hours — strategic resource management, long-arc narrative mastery, deep systems thinking — forgetting to eat, forgetting to sleep, entirely consumed by a world complex enough to deserve his full attention.

🏝️ Animal Crossing & Terraria

My middle son moves between worlds demanding patience, creativity and long-term nurturing, and pure iterative engineering — building, testing, failing, rebuilding, until mastery is achieved through the sheer refusal to stop.

⚙️ Geometry Dash & Roblox

My youngest designs levels — prototype, test, tweak, test again — indistinguishable from engineering. He builds working marble run systems that would challenge a physics student, and holds encyclopaedic knowledge of lore the kind of retention schools never see, because schools never ask the right questions.

These are not children avoiding learning. These are children demonstrating exceptional executive function, systems thinking, iterative problem-solving, creative engineering and deep mastery — every single time the environment is designed for how they actually think.

That observation is the entire argument for Abakhi. Not a gap in the market. A proof of concept that has been running in my living room for years.

✦ The Proof of Concept

Game / World Skills Demonstrated
Destiny
Strategic systems thinking · Long-arc resource management · Deep lore mastery · Sustained focus for hours
Terraria & Animal Crossing
Iterative engineering · Patience & long-term nurturing · Mastery through deliberate repetition
Geometry Dash & Roblox
Design, prototype, test, refine · Spatial reasoning · Physics intuition · Complex systems architecture
My Hero Academia
Encyclopaedic knowledge retention · Deep pattern recognition · Systems of interdependent lore

"These are not children avoiding learning. These are children waiting for an environment worthy of how they think."

✦ The Professional Foundation

My professional background is in complex data systems — designing adaptive environments that respond intelligently to human behaviour. What that work taught me, and what my family confirmed beyond any doubt, is that these children were never the problem. The environment was.

Abakhi exists to finally build the right one.

✦ What Talja Brings to This

🧠
Lived Experience

A neurodivergent parent of three neurodivergent children who has navigated EHE, reduced timetables and SEND systems from the inside — not as a researcher, but as a mother.

🔬
Data Systems Expertise

Professional background in complex data systems — designing adaptive environments that respond intelligently to human behaviour. The Curriculum Mapping Engine is built on this foundation.

🌍
Community Trust

Deep roots in EHE and neurodivergent family communities — the exact networks Abakhi's growth strategy depends on. This isn't a market to be entered. It's a community Talja already belongs to.

🎯
Founder–Market Fit

Every design decision — from the Regulation Check-in to the world's lore — reflects a founder who knows exactly who she is building for and why. That clarity is rare. In the neurodivergent space, it is the difference between a product that looks right and a product that is right.

"The children Abakhi is built for are not failed learners. They are learners who have been failed. This platform exists to change that."

— Talja Parkinson, Founder & CEO
✦ ── ✦

The Opportunity

A rapidly growing, underserved market at the intersection of EdTech and Special Educational Needs.

£2.3B
UK EdTech Market
SEND segment growing fastest
87K
AP Placements (2023)
Institutional licensing model
300K+
EHE Families
B2C subscription opportunity
+22%
YoY EHE Growth
Fastest growing education sector

Revenue Model

👨‍👩‍👧
B2C Subscription
Monthly/annual family subscriptions — direct to EHE and DME households
🏫
B2B Licensing
Per-seat and whole-provider licensing for AP settings, SEND schools and tuition centres
🤝
LA Partnerships
Local Authority and multi-academy trust procurement — bulk licensing with compliance reporting
✦ ── ✦

The Roadmap

We're at the beginning of something extraordinary — and the timing couldn't be better.

2024 – 2025

Concept, Research & World Design

Validated demand through deep community research with EHE families and AP providers. Core pedagogy framework established. Abakhi world architecture, character design and visual identity created. Cinematic launch trailer produced.

Now — March 2026
You are here

Seeking Seed Investment

Prototype development is beginning. The trailer is being fine-tuned for launch. We are now actively seeking seed funding to build the full playable prototype and establish our first learner partnerships.

🔜
Q2–Q3 2026

Prototype Build

Seed funding enables full prototype development — core game loop, Regulation Check-in system, curriculum mapping engine and parent dashboard. First EHE and AP pilot families onboarded for feedback.

🔜
September 2026

Beta Testing Launch

Closed beta opens to a founding cohort of EHE families, DME learners and AP providers. Real-world learning data collected, outcomes measured and platform iterated rapidly.

🔜
Early 2027
Phase 2

Full Platform Launch & Series A

Public launch across B2C and B2B channels. LA procurement pipeline activated. Revenue-generating phase begins. Series A fundraise initiated on the back of proven beta outcomes.

Phase 2 Product Extension

Abakhi Lite

"The assessment didn't fail because he couldn't do it. It failed because the format was incompatible with how his brain works. Abakhi Lite fixes the format."

Standard cognitive assessments are powerful clinical instruments. But they share a structural assumption that fails a significant proportion of the children referred for assessment: that the child can engage with the response format the instrument requires.

A code-breaking task on a dense worksheet with small boxes to write in is not testing pattern recognition in a dysgraphic child. It is testing handwriting tolerance under pressure. For a child with dysgraphia, sensory processing differences or significant assessment anxiety, the format itself becomes the barrier — and the shutdown that follows is recorded as performance data.

Abakhi Lite removes that barrier. It is not a replacement for EP assessment. It is a format-neutral delivery environment — a contained slice of the Abakhi world — that the child can actually access. The EP receives a structured cognitive output report and applies their clinical expertise to interpret it.

What Abakhi Lite Is

A single-biome slice of Abakhi — all core mechanics, no curriculum mapping. The child plays. The platform captures cognitive behaviour signals across six domains. A structured output report is generated for the EP to interpret. No diagnostic claims. No clinical overreach. Format-neutral access — and richer data.

How It Works
1
Regulation Check-in

Child selects their energy state before the session. Pacing and sensory load adapt accordingly. Regulation state is logged alongside all cognitive data.

2
Play Abakhi Lite

Child explores the single-biome world using the full Solve / Build mechanic, hint system and NPC interactions. No worksheet. No writing. No time pressure. Just the world.

3
EP Receives Output Report

A structured cognitive output report is generated automatically. The EP interprets the data using their clinical expertise and applies it to the assessment.

What the Output Report Contains

The platform captures rich behavioural data during every session. In Abakhi Lite, that data is mapped to cognitive domain indicators rather than curriculum objectives:

What the Platform Captures Cognitive Domain What It Indicates
Solve vs Build route preferenceVerbal vs spatial reasoning styleHow the child approaches problems — logical deduction or spatial construction.
Pattern puzzle completion & approachPattern recognition & logical reasoningAbility to identify rules, sequences and relationships.
First action latencyProcessing speedTime between task presentation and first response — independent of motor output.
Attempts, retries & self-correctionsWorking memory & error correctionCapacity to hold prior states in mind while adjusting strategy.
Strategy shifts during a taskCognitive flexibility & executive functionAbility to adapt approach when initial strategy is not working.
Build complexity & structural choicesSpatial reasoning & planningHow the child organises, sequences and constructs solutions spatially.
Hint tier accessedIndependent reasoning capacityWhether the child can initiate and sustain independent problem-solving.
Regulation state vs performance correlationEmotional regulation impact on cognitionHow nervous system state affects cognitive output across the session.
For EPs

The output report is not a diagnostic score. It is a structured record of how the child approached, engaged with and completed cognitively demanding tasks — in a format they could actually access. The clinical interpretation remains entirely with the EP. What Abakhi Lite provides is the behavioural evidence the standard format was obscuring.

What Makes This Different
Standard Format Assessment Abakhi Lite
45–60 minutes in an unfamiliar roomFlexible session length in a familiar world
Written responses — barrier for dysgraphic childrenClick, drag, build — no handwriting required
Time pressure activates threat responseNatural task pacing, no visible countdown
Single observation of a potentially dysregulated childRegulation state logged and factored into every data point
Completion or non-completion recordedFull process data — approach, strategy, revision, recovery
No curriculum mappingNo curriculum mapping — cognitive domains only
Commercial Model — B2B Only

Abakhi Lite is licensed exclusively to EPs and SEND professionals. It is not available as a consumer product.

Licence Type Indicative Price Includes
Individual EP Licence£600/yearUp to 50 sessions. Full output report suite. Recoverable within 2–3 commissioned sessions.
SEND School / AP Setting£1,500/yearUnlimited sessions. Staff training. Bulk report export for EHCP and provision planning.
Local Authority LicenceBespokeLA-wide EP access. Integration with existing SEND assessment frameworks.
EHE — EP-Commissioned Session£75–150/sessionSingle session via licensed EP. Output report delivered to EP and family.
Why Phase 2 — and Why It Matters for Investors

Built on the same engine as the core platform — approximately 80% shared infrastructure. Development cost is a fraction of a standalone product.

No curriculum mapping layer required — the evidence engine is redirected to cognitive domains rather than KS2/KS3 objectives. Simpler, faster, cleaner.

Opens a distinct B2B professional market — EPs, SEND schools, AP settings and Local Authorities — entirely separate from the B2C family subscription model.

Two revenue streams. One platform. One seed round.

Every child who shuts down in a cognitive assessment because of format incompatibility is a child whose ability was never measured — only their tolerance for the wrong format. Abakhi Lite measures the ability.

✦ ── ✦

The Boring Stuff That Matters

The infrastructure, evidence and strategy behind the world. This is where serious investors look — so here's where we speak plainly.

01

Proving Learning Outcomes

Learning in Abakhi is measured through evidence-based mastery — not traditional tests.

How Learning is Captured

Every interaction in the world generates learning signals — puzzles solved, systems built, resources managed, reasoning choices made. These signals map automatically to curriculum objectives and real-world competencies, producing a live evidence record for every session.

🧩 Puzzles solved
⚙️ Systems built
💰 Resources managed
🧠 Reasoning choices

The Abakhi Learning Dashboard

Parents and providers see learning in real time — not as grades, but as demonstrated capability. Rather than measuring memorisation, Abakhi measures applied understanding and problem-solving.

  • Skills demonstrated
  • Curriculum alignment
  • Mastery progress
  • Learning pathways unlocked
02

Mapping Gameplay to Curriculum Evidence

Behind the game sits a Curriculum Mapping Engine. Every quest, puzzle or challenge is tagged to National Curriculum objectives, real-world skills and cognitive processes.

How It Works

Children experience a game world. Parents and providers see curriculum progress and mastery data. All learning evidence is logged automatically and surfaced in the dashboard — no teacher input required.

Example — Live Curriculum Mapping

Game ChallengeLearning SignalsMapped Outcomes
🌊 Repair a broken water system for a village Ratio reasoning · Flow systems · Resource planning · Collaborative problem solving KS2 Maths — ratio & proportion · KS2 Science — forces & systems · Computing — logical sequencing
03

Building the Platform Affordably

Abakhi is not being built as a traditional large-scale game. Development follows a modular world-building approach — proving outcomes before scaling costs.

Phase 1 — Now

Prototype World

Single biome, core mechanics, Regulation Check-in system and Learning Dashboard. Proves engagement and learning outcomes.

Phase 2

Learning Engine Expansion

Additional quests, curriculum modules and AI-driven challenge variation across multiple biomes.

Phase 3

World Expansion

New regions, narrative layers and community systems. Full four-biome world. Series A territory.

The platform uses modern game engines and procedural systems — allowing content to scale without requiring large development teams.

04

Why This Cannot Be Easily Replicated

Abakhi is not a feature. It is a purpose-built architecture — and that architecture is the moat.

Any well-funded studio can build a fantasy world. Any edtech platform can claim curriculum alignment. What cannot be quickly replicated is a system built from the ground up around a specific learner — their neurology, their regulation, their relationship with failure and mastery.

The Four Pillars of Defensibility

🧭
Regulation-First Architecture Unique to Abakhi

The Regulation Check-in is not a feature bolted onto a game — it is the foundation the entire session is built upon. Grounded in Polyvagal Theory and Zones of Regulation, it adapts difficulty, tone, pacing and challenge type to the child's current emotional and cognitive state before learning begins. No other edtech platform does this. Building it correctly requires deep expertise in neurodivergent learner profiles, co-regulation theory and adaptive system design — expertise that takes years, not months, to develop.

📡
Curriculum Mapping Engine

Behind every quest sits a tagging architecture that maps gameplay actions to National Curriculum objectives in real time — without teacher input. This is not a spreadsheet. It is a live evidence system that produces Ofsted-ready reporting as a by-product of play. The technical and pedagogical work required to build this correctly creates a compounding knowledge advantage that grows with every learner interaction.

🌿
SEND-Native Interaction Design

Sensory-aware pacing, low-pressure entry points, mastery-based progression with no grades or tests — these are not accessibility add-ons. They are the product. Retrofitting this into an existing platform is structurally harder than building it from scratch. Abakhi was designed for this learner from day one.

🤝
Community Trust & Distribution

EHE and neurodivergent family networks are high-trust, word-of-mouth ecosystems. They are deeply sceptical of corporate edtech — and deeply loyal to tools that genuinely work. A founder with lived experience and an authentic origin story is not a marketing angle. It is the only credible entry point into these communities.

Large platforms serve the general learner. Abakhi was built for the learner every other platform failed. That is not a niche. That is an underserved majority hiding in plain sight.

Competitive Landscape

Capability Abakhi Minecraft Education Roblox Night Zookeeper / EdPlace
Regulation Check-in (adaptive emotional state) ✦ Yes ✕ No ✕ No ✕ No
Built specifically for neurodivergent learners ✦ Yes Partial ✕ No Partial
Live curriculum mapping engine (no teacher input) ✦ Yes ✕ No ✕ No Partial
EBSA / EOTAS / EHE pathway design ✦ Yes ✕ No ✕ No ✕ No
Mastery-based, grade-free progression ✦ Yes Partial ✕ No ✕ No
Parent & provider Ofsted-ready dashboard ✦ Yes Partial ✕ No Partial
Lived-experience founder in-community trust ✦ Yes ✕ No ✕ No ✕ No
A note on Minecraft & Roblox

These platforms serve millions of learners and are genuinely powerful open tools. But open tools are not designed learning architectures — and no amount of modding creates a regulation-aware, SEND-native, curriculum-mapped experience for a child who finds school impossible. That is what Abakhi is for.

05

Reaching Families Without Expensive Marketing

Abakhi's growth strategy focuses on community-driven adoption — the highest-trust, lowest-cost route to the families who need it most.

🏠

EHE & Neurodivergent Family Communities

Word-of-mouth adoption within homeschooling networks — already functioning as high-trust recommendation systems.

🏛️

Alternative Provision Partnerships

Licensing through AP providers and tuition centres — institutional relationships with direct access to target learners.

🤝

Local Authority SEND Networks

Platforms used within EBSA and alternative education pathways — bulk procurement without consumer marketing costs.

💬

Parent Advocacy Groups

Communities built around ADHD, autism and dyslexia support — highly engaged, deeply connected, and actively seeking solutions.

✦ ── ✦

The Investment Proposition

A single, focused round to prove the thesis — and build the platform to deliver it.

£350,000
SEED ROUND · TARGET ASK
18 months runway 10–15% equity offered EIS eligible Series A milestone

✦ Why £350,000

This figure is deliberately focused. It funds one thing: proving the thesis with real learners, in a real prototype, with real data. It does not attempt to build the full four-biome world — that is Series A territory. It builds the single-biome core loop that demonstrates engagement, learning outcomes and the Regulation Check-in in action.

The founder requires no salary from this round. Every pound is directed at product and pilots. That is an unusual position at seed stage — and a meaningful signal of commitment.

✦ Use of Funds

% Amount Purpose Notes
45% ~£157,500 Core Development Lead game developer and UI engineer. Milestone-gated.
20% ~£70,000 Regulation Check-in System Adaptive regulation engine — the core differentiator.
15% ~£52,500 Curriculum Mapping & Dashboard Backend tagging architecture and parent dashboard.
10% ~£35,000 Beta Pilot Programme Founding cohort of EHE, DME and AP pilot families.
10% ~£35,000 Contingency & Operations Legal, IP, GDPR, accountancy. No marketing spend.

✦ What This Funding Delivers

March 2026 — Seed Close
Team & Architecture

Development team contracted. Technical architecture finalised. Curriculum mapping framework locked. 18-month runway begins.

April – June 2026
Playable Core Loop

First playable single-biome prototype built. Regulation Check-in integrated. Internal playtesting begins with founding families.

July – August 2026
Full Prototype + Dashboard

Complete biome, curriculum mapping engine live, parent dashboard functional. First EHE and AP pilot families onboarded.

September 2026
Closed Beta Launch

Founding cohort of EHE families, DME learners and AP providers. Real-world learning data collected, outcomes measured, platform iterated rapidly.

Early 2027 — Series A
Full Platform Launch & Series A

Beta outcomes packaged. Revenue model validated. Public launch across B2C and B2B. Series A fundraise initiated on proven beta results.

✦ What Mission-Aligned Investors Receive

📈

10–15% equity in a seed-stage EdTech company with a defensible, purpose-built moat

💷

EIS eligibility — up to 30% income tax relief on investment

🚀

First-mover advantage in the fastest-growing segment of UK education

📊

Quarterly progress reports with learner outcome data from beta

Preferred participation rights in Series A round

🏛️

Board observer seat available for lead investors of £75,000+

🧠

A company built on lived experience — not market research

⚔ ── ✦ ── ⚔

Why This Moment

The EHE market has grown 22% year-on-year for five consecutive years. Post-pandemic EBSA has become a permanent feature of the education landscape. Local Authorities are under statutory pressure to provide for children outside mainstream provision and are actively seeking commissioned solutions.

What has not existed — until now — is a platform designed from the ground up for how these children actually learn. That is what this round builds.

This is not a bet on a market trend. This is a bet on the 300,000 families who already know the system has failed their children — and are actively looking for something better.

Curiosity Learning Labs Ltd · United Kingdom · Seed Round Open · EIS Eligible