Bethany Koby

Koby is from Los Angeles.[1] Her mother taught in a Montessori school and her father was a photographer.[2] She attributes this to her love of making.[2][3] She studied graphic design at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2000.[2] She earned a Master of Science in Responsibility and Business from Bath Spa University, which she studied in an effort to inform her art work.[4] She was a scholar at the Fabrica research centre. Koby joined the consultancy Wolff Olins, where she worked as design director and social impact specialist for 9 years.[5] She became interested in more interactive and effective ways to teach young people technology.[6]

Koby co-founded Tech Will Save Us when she found a discarded laptop in Hackney in 2012.[7] Investors in their first seed-funding round included Gi Fernando, Christopher Mairs (chairman of Code Club) and Saatchi & Saatchi.[1] She worked with Nesta, Google and Mozilla to investigate what young people enjoyed and how it mapped to skills.[8]

Tech Will Save Us created DIY gadgets for everyday life that inspire creative imagination in young people.[9] They sold 8,000 units in their first year.[1] She raised a $1.8 million investment from venture capital funding, and sought the advice of Matt Webb and Tracy Doree.[7][10] They have sold kits in over 100 countries and several major retailers, including in John Lewis, Barnes & Noble and Myer.[11] Their kits have been acquired by the Museum of Modern Art and Design Museum.[2] In 2009 she collaborated with the Dalston Mill to present an art show for the Barbican Centre.[4] She has taught classes at Kaospilot.[4] In 2015 Koby partnered with the BBC to ensure one million eleven year old children had access to a Micro Bit.[7] She designed the Tech Will Save Us Mover Kit, which raised £50,000 from a two-day crowdfunding campaign.[7][12] The Mover Kit is a toy wearable for children that they can code themselves.[2] In 2016 they won Best Hardware at the Europas and in 2017 they were awarded the Best Kids Tech Kit from the Consumer Technology Association.[13] In 2018 they raised $4.2 million in Series A funding.[14] They collaborated with The Walt Disney Company on a Marvel Avengers themed kit that encourages children to invent superheroes to complete secret missions.[15][16]

Koby recognises that parental buy-in is essential to reach children and young people.[17][18] She has written for Goop and presented at the Family Tech Summit.[19][20] An interview with her appears in the Coursera course on Brand Management.[21] Koby was selected as one of the top entrepreneurs in the UK tech sector by Growth Business in 2017.[22] She was championed by Innovate UK as one of their Game Changers.[23] She is one of the Creative Review Creative Leaders 50.[24] She is on the advisory board of The Education Foundation.[25] She was voted Innovator of the Year in the Tech Playmaker Awards in 2018.[26] She delivered the Design School Pioneers Lecture at the University of the Arts London in January 2018, and has been part of various Maker Faires.[27][28]

In 2019, Koby was 22nd in Computer Weekly's 50 'Most Influential Women in UK Tech' shortlist for her role as CEO and co-founder of Technology Will Save Us.[29]