Member Spotlight: imagiLabs

In 2012, Dora Palfi and Beatrice Ionascu met while attending a college interview weekend for New York University Abu Dhabi and quickly developed a close friendship. Six years later, the two native Hungarians became co-founders of their start-up, imagiLabs. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, imagiLabs has a clear goal: increase the number of women working in STEM by teaching girls how to code. They developed their own software and hardware, combining it with social and educational experiences. As part of their mission, imagiLabs is building a community for women who aspire to code. The imagiLabs app just went live on the App Store on May 1 and the first batch of their device, the imagiCharm, will ship mid-May. We got to talk to Dora during this exciting time for the start-up.

Dora and Beatrice’s educational journeys influenced their business idea. Dora studied computer science while Beatrice became an electrical engineer, fields in which they both experienced the lack of female role models, peers, and professors. During their undergraduate studies, they successfully launched a student organisation for women in STEM. This inspired them to continue their efforts during their graduate programs in Stockholm. While pursuing a degree in human-computer interaction, Dora researched how to get younger women interested in technology. As part of a design project, she consulted teenage girls on the gadgets they would like to use to increase their knowledge about technology. The insights gained from this study ultimately formed the idea for imagiLabs. Dora just needed someone to build the device for it to become real. Luckily, with a background in electrical engineering, her friend Beatrice was the perfect fit for the task. Soon they brought their third co-founder, Paula, in to be their lead developer.

During 2018, imagiLabs’ first year, Dora and Beatrice spent the majority of their time building a team and product prototypes. Their first product was the imagiCase, a phone case with embedded LED lights that could be programmed via an app to display text or patterns in different colours. By allowing users to program the LED lights, the app taught them basic coding concepts with Python. In early 2019, the imagiCase eventually evolved into the imagiCharm. Designed with and for teenage girls, the imagiCharm is a programmable Bluetooth accessory that users can attach to keys, bags, or clothing. The imagiCharm’s LED lights are customisable via the mobile app. Through the app’s built-in Python coding tutorials, users connect with each other over their shared interest in programming. This community feature also lets users participate in challenges, test new features, vote for new themes, and choose new colours and give other feedback.

Throughout 2019, imagiLabs involved hundreds of girls and young women in the development and testing of their imagiCharm and taught them how to code. Now, imagiLabs is finally ready to launch their product commercially. Their app was recently approved to be published on the App Store, and the first batch of 800 imagiCharms is currently being shipped from China, ready for distribution. Although COVID-19 slowed their progress, Dora is staying positive and says now is the time to build out their user base as people are recognizing the importance of digital learning and technology skills. This summer, they are planning to hold coding workshops remotely to teach even more young women how to use the imagiCharm to learn about programming.

As computing jobs are projected to grow over the next few years, we must close the representation gap that exists in the tech and STEM fields overall. As Dora emphasized, “it’s not only about diversity in an industry – imagiLabs believes that bringing women into tech is so important because technology will impact every aspect of our lives. We see it as a tool to create solutions for the future and the building process must include a diverse population to reflect our society.” We at the App Association could not agree more and are proud to have imagiLabs as a member, and we look forward to working with them as they continue to make a positive impact on this world.