A new XPRIZE competition is underway: a prize of 15 million dollars will be awarded to the winning application

The TERRA Foundation and the serial entrepreneur Yanki Margalit will accompany the Israeli entrepreneurs who will enter the competition* The competition will focus on the development of Android applications for learning reading, writing and mathematics intended for children in developing countries with the aim of reducing gaps in education

A new international competition of the XPRIZE entrepreneurship engine is starting today and entrepreneurs from around the world and from Israel are expected to take part in it. The winners of the competition will be awarded a prize of 15 million dollars.

Those who will accompany the Israeli entrepreneurs who will approach the competition will be the members of the venture capital fund TERRA Venture Partners and the serial entrepreneur Yanki Margalit. Dr.Roey Tsezana, a futurist and researcher at the Yuval Na'eman workshop at Tel Aviv University, will serve as XPRIZE's ambassador in Israel.
The most famous XPRIZE competition so far is the competition to land a spacecraft on the moon, in which the Israeli group Space IL also takes part.

TERRA Venture Partners is an Israeli venture capital fund that makes impact investments and even operates the technological incubator TerraLab. As part of the cooperation with XPRIZE, the heads of the fund, including Barak Goldstein, Dr. Astura Modena, Dr. Harold Wiener and Oren Kochavi will advise the entrepreneurs, assist them in the development of the idea and the technological development, will bring them together with key figures in the Israeli hi-tech industry and education, and more.
XPRIZE is an entrepreneurial engine sponsored by Google (Innovation Engine) that holds international competitions carrying prestigious prizes. The participants in the competition stretch the limits we know today in order to change the world for the better.

This year, XPRIZE decided that the prize will be given to a group that will develop an Android application through which children in developing countries can learn to read and write as well as mathematics, which is expected to reduce the educational gaps and increase the chances of millions of children for a better future. The competition is limited in time during which five finalist groups will be chosen who will each receive one million dollars in order to conduct a pilot. The pilot will be held in remote villages in third world countries and within it the educational applications developed by the selected groups will be tested.

Barak Goldstein, partner in the Terra Venture Partners fund: "This is one of the most fascinating and prestigious competitions in the world and the Israeli startup industry has already proven that it has a place at the top. We believe that there is a place to encourage the entrepreneurs to use the extraordinary capabilities of the local industry for the benefit of ventures that have the potential to change the world. As a foundation that leads the field of impact investments in Israel, we are proud and happy to accompany Israeli entrepreneurs in a significant educational challenge that can change the face of learning for millions of children."

Dr.Roey Tsezana, a futurist and researcher at the Yuval Na'eman workshop for science, technology and security at Tel Aviv University: "In the optimal situation we want to see young, vibrant and interesting applications, similar to the software that so attracts the huge gamer community around the world. If we manage to direct the diligence of the gamers in the educational direction, I believe we will see a worldwide change in teaching methods. Today, every child who goes to school and sits in front of the blackboard between gray walls is actually making a journey into the past. This must be changed."

The XPRIZE competitions focus on problems that until now were believed to have no solution, or no clear path to a solution. So far, it has been measurably proven that the funds directed by the competing groups and their accompanying supporting bodies for research and development of the field in which the competition is held, exceed 5 times the amount offered as a prize. XPRIZE's motto is "Think big." You will earn big" and the question that guides the entrepreneurial engine is "Do you have what it takes to change the world?".
XPRIZE published today on its website the conditions of the new competition: registration for the competition on global studies will last 6 months. The groups that sign up will have 18 months to develop their solution. At this stage the semi-finals will be held and a month later the 5 finalist groups will be chosen, each of which will receive a million dollars to carry out a pilot in a rural area in a developing country where the common language is English, where 3,000 children between the ages of 5-12 will participate in each pilot. The group whose application proves to have led to the highest proficiency in reading, writing and math studies will win a prize of 10 million dollars and will be available for free download worldwide.
The Terra Venture Partners fund was established in 2007 by Dr. Astura Moduna, a physicist with 12 years of experience in venture capital investments and Dr. Harold Wiener, a chemist who managed the field of R&D and business development in chemical companies and later founded technology incubators and a private fund for investments in natural materials and green chemistry.
The fund invests in ventures at all stages, from pre-seed to the growth stage. Most of the companies in which the fund invested advanced to significant follow-on recruitments and four of them even have significant revenues and cooperative agreements with market leading companies in the world for the assimilation and sale of their services and products.