The Story Behind Ais

Kids are naturally curious — they learn by asking questions, imagining worlds, and exploring through conversation. But today, a lot of that curiosity gets taken over by screens.

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Aistrel character

We built Ais to bring wonder back

Where Childhood Meets Thoughtful Design

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Ais is a soft, screen-free AI companion that empowers kids without compromising their safety or creativity. It talks and listens with gentle, age-appropriate conversation that inspires imagination, language growth, and emotional expression.

Built with emotional intelligence and a privacy-first design, Ais offers the warmth of a friend and the spark of open-ended play — in any language.

At its core, Ais stands for trust, creativity, and connection. Technology should nurture childhood, not distract from it.

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Our Team

Keeping Curiosity
Safe and Fun

We're Aistrel, a team of developers, engineers, and designers building AI families can trust. With expertise in child-safe tech, conversational AI, hardware, and early learning, we focus on thoughtful, transparent engineering that supports real childhood development.

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Jason Kang

Founder & CEO

  • Two-time founder with a category-creating exit in 2006
  • Scaled a card trading product from zero to $12M in revenue
  • Early investor in Ramp, Poppi, and more than ten other startups
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Bill Southard

Chief Toy Officer

  • 40+ years in the toy industry
  • Led launches for iconic brands like LeapFrog, Etch A Sketch, and The Elf on the Shelf
  • Worked with global leaders including Hasbro, Disney, and Toys “R” Us
  • Deep expertise across the full lifecycle — product creation, licensing, marketing, and retail scale
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Sharad Agrawal

CPO

  • Scaled a gaming startup to unicorn status
  • Built the Kids Stories player, which sold over 100,000 products
  • 7+ years of expertise in AI and data science development
Engineering and Hardware Team from
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