U.S. Treasury Awards $610,000 Contract To Oakland EdTech Startup, MindBlown Labs

OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Revolutionary education technology company, MindBlown Labs (MBL), has been awarded a $610,000 research contract by the United States Department of the Treasury from its new Financial Empowerment Innovation Fund for the company's development of its financial education mobile game, Thrive 'n' Shine, and its innovative framework to teach financial capability to high school students.  For multimedia assets, go to bit.ly/mbltreasuryaward.

The purpose of the Innovation Fund is to "develop, test and evaluate new ways to empower Americans with their finances and help them access safe and affordable financial products and services."

"MindBlown Labs has always striven to help people develop strong financial problem-solving and decision-making skills, and we're honored to receive this award," said Jason Young, Mindblown Labs Co-Founder and CEO. "It's encouraging to know that Treasury supports our goal and vision to foster these important life skills."

More than 320 organizations applied, including technology companies, state and local governments, financial institutions (including credit unions and community banks), non-profits, and card providers. MindBlown Labs is the only financial capability company selected to receive this prestigious award.  

This research is tremendously valuable for two main reasons:

1. It is among the first rigorous, randomized, controlled trial studies on using games to teach financial capability.
2. It involves an approach that is adaptable, scalable, and replicable, which can be applied by most schools throughout the nation.

MBL's experiential learning framework is based on financial capability best practices and includes: hands-on financial capability curriculum; access to MBL's mobile game, Thrive 'n' Shine (beta available in App Store and Google Play Store); teacher training; and student access to savings accounts.  MindBlown Labs has partnered with the Economics Center and Cincinnati Police Federal Credit Union to develop and implement some of the study's components.

About MindBlown Labs
Based in Oakland, CA, MindBlown Labs is an award-winning, education technology company that creates highly-engaging, experiential learning tools that empower young adults with financial capability skills.  It was recognized as one of Entrepreneur Magazine's "Brilliant 100 Companies of 2013" and is part of co.lab, an accelerator for startups leveraging the power of digital games to build transformative educational technologies, co-founded by NewSchools Venture Fund and Zynga.org. Jason Young, its CEO, was recently appointed to President Obama's Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans.

MindBlown Labs has developed Thrive 'n' Shine - a mobile game that empowers teens with money management skills.  They describe it as a mash-up between Candy Crush and The Sims.  By playing it, students interact with numerous financial concepts, including budgeting, saving, taxes, student loans, etc.  For trailer, visit bit.ly/tnsfall2014.

Thrive 'n' Shine is compatible with Android and iOS devices and is available to download through the App Store and Google Play Store.

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SOURCE MindBlown Labs

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