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Maka Kids is redefining kids’ screen time with a streaming app optimized for well-being, not engagement
In a media landscape dominated by Baby Shark and Skibidi Toilet, one startup is reimagining children’s media by focusing on well-being, not watch time.
Maka Kids is building a streaming app for children ages zero to six featuring content designed for healthy development. The startup has now raised $3 million in seed funding to scale its platform, and is currently accepting waitlist sign-ups.
Unlike traditional streaming platforms, Maka Kids doesn’t have recommendation algorithms, ads, or auto-play. Instead, it is designed to offer a predictable experience that supports learning, creativity, and emotional growth.
Maka Kids was founded by Isabel Sheinman and Tanyella Leta, who previously founded Nabu, a non-profit venture that brought children’s books to more than 15 million children across 26 countries.
Sheinman and Leta were introduced at a dinner back in 2013 through a mutual friend and immediately hit it off, the pair told TechCrunch in an email. They said they initially over the fact that they both came from families of educators and entrepreneurs, an experience that first inspired Nabu and later fueled their passion for Maka Kids.
They began dreaming up the concept of Maka Kids after discussions with their friends, families, and customers at Nabu. They heard from parents who felt increasingly anxious about the effects of screen time on their children. Building on those concerns, the duo conducted hundreds of user interviews, which ultimately shaped their solution: a children’s streaming app designed with well-being at its core.
“We were seeing parents get completely overwhelmed trying to weigh decisions about what was unsafe, what was good, and understand why their kid was melting down every time screen time ended,” Sheinman said. “At the same time, we watched the children’s media ecosystem get louder, faster, more algorithmically driven. Looking at this problem, we felt uniquely positioned to deliver the relief that parents craved.”
All of the content on Maka Kids is evaluated using Maka Imprint, the startup’s patent-pending developmental framework created through two years of R&D in collaboration with researchers at the Yale Child Study Center. The framework maps seven core domains of early childhood development across more than 650 developmental indicators, including language, creativity, emotional skills, and growth mindset.
Maka Kids licenses content directly from IP holders and individual creators. The startup is also partnering directly with studios and animators to produce original content.
Every show on the platform goes through an analysis of pacing, stimulation levels, color contrast, and narrative structure. Its catalog features slower-paced, lower-stimulation content with genuine narrative arcs and stories from around the world.
The duo believes an important factor often missing from the screen time debate for kids is how much the right story, delivered at the right moment, can positively support a young child.
“Stories can support language development, emotional regulation, curiosity, and give kids a sense of how wide the world is,” Leta said. “Children’s media at its best is one of the most powerful developmental tools families have, when it’s designed with this intention. Most of the platforms children watch on today were designed for adult audiences, with a kids experience crudely bolted on as an afterthought. The incentive for the majority of kids’ streaming platforms is watch time, not well-being.”
When parents create a profile for their child, they can select channels focused on a variety of topics, such as kindness, STEM, emotional regulation, or movement, and then set preferred session lengths. From there, Maka Kids delivers curated, developmentally vetted content tailored to those selections.
The session then ends naturally, with wind-down cues from characters to help children calmly transition away from screen time without a meltdown.
Maka Kids is running a private beta on iOS this summer and plans to launch publicly this fall on iPhone and iPad, with casting support via AirPlay. Maka Kids says it already has thousands of families on its waitlist.
As for the startup’s business model, the app will operate on a subscription model, priced at $11.99 per month, with a discounted annual option.
In terms of the new funding, the startup plans to use it to grow its catalog of vetted shows. The round was led by Michigan Rise, with participation from Union Heritage Ventures, Flybridge, Also Capital, Detroit Venture Partners, Song United, Invest Detroit, Ann Arbor Spark Capital, and Segal Ventures, as well as angel investors.
“Longer term, our vision is to become the trust layer for every digital experience children have,” Sheinman said. “Embedded into games, edtech products, and shows, Maka Imprint can help developers align their products to what is actually good for kids and families. The kids category deserves a trusted industry standard, and that’s what we are building.”
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News
From Producing Nigerian Internationals to Building Their Own Stadium: Buruj Sports Academy Takes Bold Step as Ikorodu Football Dream Attracts Investors
Buruj Sports Academy is turning years of grassroots football success into an ambitious infrastructure project, unveiling a proposed stadium development in Ikorodu, Lagos State, aimed at transforming opportunities for young Nigerian footballers.
The academy, founded by Dr. Waheed Salaudeen, has presented a new development layout featuring a standard 105m × 68m football pitch, spectator stand, changing rooms, administrative and first-aid facilities, toilets, parking spaces and perimeter security.
The project represents a significant step toward establishing a permanent home for the academy’s growing football development programme.
Buruj’s ambitions are backed by its record of nurturing promising talents, including former Nigeria Under-15 internationals Raheem Moyinoluwa Salaudeen and Fawas Ayomide Adeleke, who represented Nigeria in youth competitions in Morocco and Algeria.
The academy has also facilitated opportunities for players in Spain and Lithuania, while six Buruj youngsters recently earned selection for an international football exposure programme following the Italian Consulate General U-20 Tournament.
Unlike its earlier three-acre, 5,000-seat stadium concept, the latest architectural proposal adopts a more practical, phased approach, beginning with an approximately 80–100-seat stand and essential football facilities. Punch Newspapers +1
Dr. Salaudeen, who serves as founder and Chief Executive Officer, has consistently championed football development alongside education.
“This dream is bigger than Buruj Sports Academy alone. We are appealing to private individuals, corporate organizations, investors, and well-meaning Nigerians to support this vision.”
His appeal reflects a determination to build a sustainable sporting institution capable of serving generations of young Nigerians. Sports247 Nigeria +1
For potential investors, the project offers opportunities in stadium naming rights, facility sponsorship, youth development partnerships, football tournaments and community sports programmes.
With a survey document and proposed layout now presented, Buruj is inviting partners to help turn its vision into reality, subject to necessary technical assessments and development approvals.
From discovering football stars to building the infrastructure that produces them, Buruj Sports Academy is no longer simply dreaming of the future — it is preparing to build it.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has postponed the flag-off of its presidential campaign in Sokoto State, earlier scheduled for Saturday, October 31, to Wednesday, November 4.
The party’s Presidential Campaign Council in Sokoto State announced the postponement in a press statement issued on Wednesday, and signed by its Director-General, Bello Aliyu Goronyo.
According to the statement, the decision was taken to address certain planning and coordination issues to ensure the successful conduct of the campaign event.
The council appealed to party leaders, stakeholders, supporters and members of the public to take note of the new date, while expressing regret over any inconvenience caused by the change in schedule.
“The African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential Campaign Council in Sokoto State wishes to announce the postponement of its Presidential Campaign Flag-off, earlier scheduled for Saturday, 31st October 2026, to Wednesday, 4th November 2026,” the statement read.
Explaining the reason for the change, the council said, “The decision follows the need to address certain planning and coordination considerations to ensure the successful conduct of the event.”
“The Campaign Council regrets any inconvenience the change may cause and sincerely appreciates the understanding, patience and continued support of party leaders, stakeholders, supporters and members of the public,” Goronyo added.
He urged all concerned to take note of the new date and expressed the council’s readiness to welcome party leaders, supporters and other stakeholders to the event.
The postponement comes amid reports of difficulties involving hotel accommodation in Sokoto ahead of the campaign flag-off originally scheduled for Saturday.
Reports had emerged that hotel rooms were being booked ahead of the planned ADC event, with allegations that some hotel owners were refusing to release rooms to prospective guests.
The development comes as the ADC continues preparations for the 2027 general election, with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate.
The party is seeking to strengthen its support across the country as opposition parties prepare to challenge President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress in the forthcoming presidential election.
Earlier on Wednesday, the ADC Presidential Campaign Council at the national level disowned an unsigned campaign timetable circulating on social media, urging party members, supporters and other stakeholders to disregard the document.
The council said the timetable, which contained proposed dates and locations for campaign rallies and other political activities across the country, had not been authorised by the campaign organisation.
In a statement signed by the Director of Media and Publicity of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party clarified that the document did not originate from the council or its campaign office.
“The African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council (ADC-PCC) has disowned an unsigned campaign timetable currently in circulation, clarifying that the document did not emanate from the Council or its campaign office,” the statement said.
Ologbondiyan urged party members and stakeholders to wait for official announcements regarding the campaign schedule.
“Accordingly, all members and stakeholders are urged to disregard the document and await official communications from the ADC-PCC on campaign activities and schedules,” he added.
The unsigned timetable listed Sokoto State as the proposed starting point for the presidential campaign on October 31, 2026, and outlined proposed activities in several other states before a closing rally scheduled for Adamawa State on January 11, 2027.
The document also contained proposed dates for rallies, town hall meetings and other political engagements in states including Kebbi, Zamfara, Ogun, Oyo, Rivers, Delta, Edo, Cross River, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia, Benue, Plateau, Kaduna, Kano and Borno.
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