In a media landscape dominated by Baby Shark and Skibidi Toilet, startup Maka Kidsis redefining media for kids, focusing on well-being rather than screen time.
See also: Instagram: Will notify parents when teenagers add new interests
Maka Kids is creating a streaming app for kids ages zero to six, with content designed for healthy development. The startup has raised $3 million in seed funding to expand its platform and is already accepting signups on a waitlist.
Unlike traditional streaming platforms, Maka Kids has no recommendation algorithms, ads, or autoplay. Instead, it is designed to provide a predictable experience that supports learning, creativity, and emotional development.
Maka Kids was founded by Isabel Sheinman and Tanyella Leta, who previously founded Nabu, a non-profit initiative that has brought children's books to more than 15 million children in 26 countries.
Sheinman and Leta met at a dinner party in 2013 through a mutual friend and immediately found common ground. They initially connected because they both came from families of educators and entrepreneurs, an experience that initially inspired Nabu and later fueled their passion for Maka Kids.
They began envisioning the idea for Maka Kids after talking to friends, family, and customers at Nabu. They heard from parents who were increasingly concerned about the effects of screen time on their children. Based on these concerns, the duo conducted hundreds of user interviews, which ultimately shaped their solution: a streaming app for kids designed with well-being at the forefront.
See also: Bluey characters are coming to Apple Arcade games
All content on Maka Kids is assessed using Maka Imprint, the startup’s patent-pending developmental framework created over two years in collaboration with researchers at the Yale Child Study Center. The framework maps seven key areas of early childhood development across more than 650 developmental indicators, including language, creativity, emotional skills , and growth mindset.
Maka Kids licenses content directly from copyright holders and individual creators. The startup also works directly with studios and animators to produce original content.
Every show on the platform goes through an analysis of pacing, arousal levels, color contrast, and narrative structure. Its catalog includes content with slower pace, lower arousal, and authentic narrative curves and stories from around the world.
The duo believes that an important factor often missing from the discussion about children's screen time is how much the right story, delivered at the right time, can positively support a young child.
“Stories can support language development, emotional regulation, curiosity, and give children a sense of how big the world is,” Leta said. “Children’s media at its best is one of the most powerful developmental tools families have when designed with that intention.”
When parents create a profile for their child, they can choose channels that focus on different topics, such as kindness, STEM, emotional regulation, or movement, and then set preferred session lengths. From there, Maka Kids delivers curated, developmentally-tested content tailored to those choices.
See also: EU age verification app has privacy problem
The session ends naturally, with relaxation cues from characters to help children transition calmly away from the screen without tension.
