Little Thinking Minds
Amman-based edtech company founded in 2004 that makes Arabic reading and assessment products such as I Read Arabic and Mizan. Acquired by the US company Seesaw in 2025.
Industry: Arabic literacy and K-12 education technology | Location: Amman, Jordan | Founded: 2004 | Total Funding: USD 2M
About Little Thinking Minds
Little Thinking Minds is an educational technology company based in Amman, Jordan, that makes Arabic-language learning content and software for school students. Its website describes a focus on Arabic literacy for children from kindergarten to grade twelve, with the aim of closing literacy gaps. The company says it has offices in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt as well as its Amman headquarters.
Rama Kayyali and Lamia Tabbaa founded the company in 2004, and Kayyali is chief executive. Wamda reported that it began by making educational videos for children. Salwa Katkhuda joined in 2014 to lead strategy and growth and was described by Wamda in 2019 as a third co-founder.
Its products are I Read Arabic, I Start Arabic and the Mizan Assessment Platform. The company's website lists more than 800 reading and audio books, over 450 interactive worksheets and more than 250 science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics videos in I Read Arabic, and says it works with more than 25 Arabic children's book publishers. It states that it has served over 450,000 students in 10 Arab countries, while Seesaw cited more than 400,000 students and a 25 percent improvement in literacy levels backed by independent research. Customers include public and private schools, refugee education programmes and government initiatives.
On 15 April 2025 the US education company Seesaw announced that it had acquired Little Thinking Minds. The price was not disclosed and EDT&Partners originated the deal. The companies said they served more than 800,000 users in over 3,000 schools, ministries and school groups in the region, and Seesaw planned to launch its first Arabic-language platform in 2026.
Oasis500, the Amman accelerator, was the first investor, putting in about USD 230,000 in 2011, and announced a partial exit in February 2019. In December 2018 the company raised a USD 1.26 million Series A led by Algebra Ventures of Egypt, with Mindshift Capital and Al Turki Group. In May 2019 the Innovative Startups and SMEs Fund added USD 500,000, closing the Series A at about USD 1.765 million.
Leadership
- Rama Kayyali, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
- Lamia Tabbaa, Co-founder
- Salwa Katkhuda, Strategy and growth lead; described as third co-founder