Airy Labs

01 / WHAT IT BUILT

What the company did

Airy Labs was a Palo Alto startup building educational games for children in the spirit of 'learning through play.' Founded in 2011 by Andrew Hsu, a 19-year-old Stanford neuroscience PhD dropout who received a $100,000 Thiel '20 under 20' grant, it raised $1.5 million from Foundation Capital, Google Ventures, and Playdom co-founder Rick Thompson to make games 'that parents can feel good about handing to their kids' - such as Mini Minute, in which a player shoots monsters while learning to tell time.

03 / EVENT HISTORY

Events in the structured record

1. 2011
   Founded and funded

   Andrew Hsu drops out of Stanford's neuroscience PhD program, becomes a Thiel Fellow, and founds Airy Labs; the company raises $1.5 million in seed funding from Foundation Capital, Google Ventures, and Rick Thompson, and starts operations in Palo Alto.

2. 2012
   Mass layoffs

   In February 2012, Airy Labs lays off most of its 20-person staff, with stories of paranoia and mismanagement surfacing; the company is reported to be in trouble.