78. Clever Lili Ltd

DEI Award Shortlisted

As well as featuring among our top 100 startups for 2023, This brand distinguished itself sufficiently to be included in our DEI Award category shortlist.

Startups 100: DEI Awards

Founder: Alex Hak and Petia Hak
Founded: 2019
Website: gcsehistory.com

As any student (or parent of a student) will tell you, finding the required content for a specific level or exam board is challenging. Locating it in one place is close to impossible. And finding revision resources for students who are neurodiverse is needle-in-a-haystack territory.

Alex Hak discovered all this whilst revising for her History GCSE. She and her mother Petia Hak decided to develop and launch Clever Lili, an AI revision app that can answer over 120,000 questions related to GCSE History. At just 18 years old, Hak is the youngest founder on the Startups 100 Index.

So did the app make the grade? “Lili helped me get from a 6 to a 9 by the time I did my mocks in January 2020,” Hak Junior confirms.

At just 18 years old, Hak is the youngest founder on the Startups 100 Index.

Creating an inclusive and equitable learning experience is fundamental to the Clever Lili app. It’s been designed to help students with ADD/ADHD, dyslexia and other neurodiversities get more from the revision process.

In terms of innovation, our judges were singing the app’s praises because of its unique and creative “karaoke” function, which highlights text as the AI reads it aloud. The voice can be slowed down, sped up, or even turned off if the student or teacher wishes to (unlike your best mate’s rendition of Sweet Caroline. So good, so good). Clever Lili also provides revision guides for students who do not necessarily have access to technology at home.

However, teaching old dogs new tricks was a challenge. To get teachers to embrace this nu-skool approach to learning and revising, they were provided with a free prototype of the product based on Hak’s GCSE History notes.

Creating an inclusive and equitable learning experience is fundamental to the Clever Lili app.

Since then, the AI app has received considerable industry acceptance and recognition. Clever Lili was a finalist in the Education Resources Awards 2021 and is supported by multiple UK exam boards including Edexcel, CIE, and AQA.

So what’s next on the Clever Lili timetable? The Haks plan to head to the top of the class by covering all GCSE/iGCSE and A-Level subjects in the next five years. Plus, expand to global exam boards in the US, Canada and Australia.

Students, are you listening carefully? Nuke those notes, crumple up that crib sheet, flush those flashcards. Clever Lili is here to rev up your revision with its AI-led learning and exam prep app.