Announcing KidTech
We’re excited to announce KidTech, a new site we launched today to shine a spotlight on great, innovative products that leverage technology to help kids and families.
We built the site in order to celebrate amazing innovations that are changing both childhood and parenthood for the better. Some of the featured companies are in our portfolio, but most are not.
After launching Collab+Sesame, we were fortunate to learn of hundreds of great companies that deserve more recognition than they receive. It made us realize that despite all these advancements to change the lives of kids and families, discovery remains a challenge. In part because of the proliferation of new products, it’s hard to find the best products through all the noise. New innovators may have the potential to transform traditional learning and play, but lack the marketing budgets to compete with big brands. With an estimated $17B spent on marketing to children, it is challenging for young companies to stand out.
It’s important to build community and awareness around these fantastic new products because they are dramatically different from what was available even just a decade ago. Our intention with KidTech is not to be exhaustive, but to highlight unique, exciting companies that not everyone has heard of yet. The site features filters by age as well as by product type: coding, robots, play, parenting tools, and education.
Some pages also feature Q&As with company founders, to share stories of why they created these products – often out of an unmet personal need. We love it when entrepreneurs share their own inspirations and experiences, because it brings so much meaning to their work. Phoebe Hayman created Seedling because she wanted to give her kids toys that weren’t plastic. Alex Klein started Kano because his little cousin wanted a computer to code that was as easy and fun to use as a Lego set. Sara Mauskopf started Winnie because after having a baby, she found that it was surprisingly difficult to find things to do outside the house with a little one in tow.
The site also seeks to highlight areas where there is space for technology to develop, in the hope that it will catalyze more new ideas. We hope you’ll send examples of other new products focused on advancing kids and families that we should include on KidTech.