Get to know Jade's history

Behind every innovation there is a history. Today, we are going to tell you more about Jade’s journey, a company focused on education that has helped the development of children and teenagers with autism.

Jade Autism is a company that promotes inclusive education through technology.

Jade's software was developed to support children and adolescents with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other cognitive comorbidities, enabling schools and teachers to offer an individualized approach to students on the spectrum.

It is all done through Jade Edu, Jade APP and Jade ASTEA, which together promote the cognitive development of these students through games, support teaching professionals by providing performance reports for each student, and facilitate the diagnosis of autism.

Currently, the Jade APP has been downloaded 160,000 times in 175 countries and is available in 4 languages. Public and private institutions in Brazil already use the tool in their teaching process, totaling almost 4,000 students being monitored and 479 educators trusting Jade.

Jade's journey began in 2017, in Vitória (ES - Brazil), when Ronaldo Cohin, father of a child with autism and a Computer Science student, created the Jade Autism app.

As a father, Ronaldo noticed a challenge faced by doctors and therapists during the treatment of his son: the lack of accurate information related to the specific needs of an autistic child. This made decision-making difficult and often delayed treatment. Upon realizing that resolving this problem could help in the treatment of his son and other children with ASD, Ronaldo developed his final thesis on this.

So, in 2018, he launched Jade Autism, a software created to stimulate the cognitive development of children with ASD and other comorbidities. With more than 1,500 fun games, the app collects behavioral data from players in real time, making it possible to obtain accurate information, especially from children who cannot communicate. From this, reports are generated that reveal the deficits and potential of the players. These results can be monitored by physicians and therapists, providing data for more assertive decision-making and an individualized treatment approach.

“I am the father of an autistic child, Lucas, 7 years old. I was finishing my university program and I had the idea of creating something to help parents who, like me, live with autism. It is a game that can capture data on children's behavior and generate information that can help in the treatment,” explains Ronaldo Cohin.

In addition to presenting Jade Autism at the university, Ronaldo submitted his project to Campus Mobile, a competition sponsored by Instituto Claro that recognizes mobile application development talent. Jade Autism received the Campus Mobile 2018 Award, in the “Facilities” category.

This award was only the first for Jade. A university completion project that has become an educational company with a worldwide reach.

– 2018 

After the Campus Mobile award, Jade started to grow. In the second half of 2018, the project was accelerated and awarded by InovAtiva Brasil.

Even though it was still in the ideation phase, the potential of the application was perceived by the innovation environment. As a result, they received their first angel investment from an entrepreneur in the healthcare sector.

By the end of 2018, Jade began to structure itself as a startup, expand its team, attract investments and participate in other acceleration programs, such as BiotechTown.

– 2019

Despite having been launched in May 2018, it was in early 2019 that the Jade Autism app officially entered the market. They started marketing their therapeutic platform (now known as Jade APP).

During the Hospital Fair, in São Paulo - Brazil, Jade participated in the BioInnovation Challenge (BIC), a challenge that connected startups offering health solutions with companies already established in the market. They reached the first place in the “Technological solutions using artificial intelligence and big data” category.

In 2019, the startup celebrated its first major client: the Association of Parents and Friends of the Disabled (Apaes) of Espírito Santo - Brazil, implementing its solution in all of their 42 facilities.

Since the beginning of the project, Ronaldo noticed that there were few solutions that efficiently supported the development of children with ASD in the world. Therefore, Jade Autism was created in three languages: Portuguese, English and Spanish.

With that in mind, Jade participated in the Toronto Cycle of StarOut Brasil, a free internationalization program promoted by the Brazilian government in partnership with APEX, which supports the insertion of national startups in the main innovation ecosystems of the world.

The startup also participated in the Global Entrepreneur Programme (GEP), the British government's internationalization program, and was accelerated in the Panacea Stars, in the University of Oxford.

Something that brought even greater visibility to Jade, increasing the number of app downloads by 200%, was its participation in the Reality Show Planeta Startup. Promoted by the national TV Network Band, the reality show aimed at encouraging national entrepreneurship by connecting startups with investors.

To strengthen Jade's technical and scientific team, the startup added new partners: Dr. Marcelo Masruha, who was the President of the Brazilian Society of Child Neurology, and the neuropsychologist Joice Andrade.

2019 ended with an important milestone: the celebration of 60,000 downloads of Jade Autism worldwide!

– 2020

2020 was marked by two important achievements that crowned the process of globalization of Jade Autism:

• As a result of the UK government’s internationalization program, Jade's software began to be implemented in the British public health system.
  
  
• Jade was one of the five businesses selected by APEX-Brazil to participate in the Supernova Challenge, which was held in Dubai during Gitex Future Star. Gitex is the technology event that brings together the most influential ecosystems from around the world and highlights the most promising startups. Among 120 startups from 70 countries, Jade won the challenge in the Best Social and Environmental Impact category.

– 2021

The award from the Supernova Challenge, at Gitex Future Star, caught the attention of investors in the region. With that, the app was also translated into Arabic, totaling four languages.

Jade started to be accelerated by Hub71, the largest startup incubator in the UAE, based in Abu Dhabi. This led to the opening of the company in another country.

To further support the development of children and adolescents with ASD, they launched Jade’s educational software, Jade Edu, in 2021. The main objective of the tool is to help educators to develop and adapt teaching strategies for autistic children, considering their difficulties and potential. Jade Edu also offers training and qualification to teachers, helping them to work with children with ASD.

Noticing the relevance of Jade's new project, the city of Teixeira de Freitas (Bahia - Brazil) was the first municipality to implement the educational software in its schools.

In 2021, Jade also partnered with Clube Atlético Mineiro, a soccer club. And the app reached 100,000 downloads from 149 different countries.

– 2022

In April, Autism Month, Jade was invited to participate in the Play For All Accelerator, promoted by The LEGO Foundation. During the five-day event, 25 companies that develop solutions for children with ASD and ADHD underwent a fast acceleration process at Lego's headquarters in Denmark. During those days, Jade was mentored and participated in lectures on special education.

In May, Jade Edu was implemented in another municipality. After closing a deal with Resende, in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil, 11 schools in the municipal network started to use the educational software to provide a more inclusive education.

Also in May, Jade started to be invested by “500 Startups”, a venture capital from Silicon Valley with a branch in Saudi Arabia. With the financial contribution, the company expanded its international reach and also began to focus even more on the educational sector in Brazil.

With the close work with schools, Jade realized that cognitive delay, learning and socialization difficulties are often more apparent in the school environment. So, focusing on providing further support to educators, Jade started developing the technology for early detection of autism. This technology is already in the final stages of development and should be released in the coming months.

Currently, towards the end of 2022, Jade is undergoing major changes. With the impact that Jade Edu has had on the education market and the emerging need for more inclusion in education, the company has started to change. The project, which was born with a therapeutic focus, is reassessing its positioning: Jade is going through a rebranding process, where its focus is being redirected to the education of children with ASD. The Jade Autism therapy software (which will be called Jade App) will continue to be available for free. More details about this news will be released soon.