Toronto-based artificial intelligence company Tech Spark AI announced on Wednesday a $1.4 million pre-seed round led by TD Bank, with participation from Salesforce, Canada’s government and NBA Canada, according to Tech Crunch.
The investment is used to build out its new generative AI platform called Spark Plug for students and a wider audience. The product’s first iteration allows users to translate classic literature text into modern language, with Gen Z as its target audience.
Spark Plug has partnered with educational institutions in the U.S. and Canada, with a particular focus on schools within underserved Black and brown communities.
In addition to its language translation, founder Tamar Huggins said Spark Plug has created an assessment tool called LearningDNA to help educators understand how students learn best.