Tech
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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Tech
Imperagen raises £5 million to use quantum physics, AI on enzyme engineering
Biotech company Imperagen announced on Thursday a £5 million ($6.7 million) seed round led by PXN Ventures, with participation from IQ Capital and Northern Gritstone. The company was founded in 2021 by Manchester Institute of Biotechnology scientists Dr. Andrew Currin, Dr. Tim Eyes, and Dr. Andy Almond and spun out of the university.
The startup seeks to improve enzyme engineering by making it faster, more efficient, and less costly than the slower, more physical, trial-and-error-focused process used now.
Imperagen is using three core technologies as it seeks to redefine enzyme engineering. Specifically, it uses a quantum physics-based simulation instead of trial-and-error enzyme mutations in a lab. Imperagen predicts the behavior of enzyme variants on a computer using advanced quantum physics modeling that can explore millions of mutations, the company said. Then it translates this information into its custom AI models, trained on the enzyme problems Imperagen seeks to explore. Finally, to retain its AI models, Imperagen uses robots and automation to generate experimental data, which is fed back to the AI model, in a process called closed-loop simulation.
Enzymes are incredibly important across many industries, especially in pharmaceuticals, as they are essential to drug development. Startups like Imperagen are hoping to speed up enzyme engineering because it can have a domino effect, making, for example, drug discovery faster and more efficient. Enzymes are also used in sectors like food, biofuels, and agriculture. Experts in sustainability are also looking to enzymes — and the AI technologies surrounding them — to make industrial production and manufacturing more sustainable.
Others in this space include Biomatter, Cradle Bio, and Absci.
On Thursday, Imperagen also announced that Guy Levy-Yurista will assume the role of CEO. Speaking to TechCrunch, he said that right now, the process of enzyme engineering is falling short, where even many new AI-powered technologies can pass trial and error but fail when put into practice on an industrial scale.
Imperagen hopes its tech will make enzyme development “faster, more reliable, and more commercially accessible, helping companies bring better bio-based products to market without the long timelines and uncertainty that have traditionally held the field back,” he told TechCrunch.
Levy-Yurista has a background in AI, life sciences, and enterprise technology. Though the founders will remain at the company, Levy-Yurista was brought in to help build out its new technologies, including a vertical AI infrastructure for biocatalysis (a process that accelerates chemical reactions using natural catalysts like enzymes), while scaling the startup’s AI strategy, commercial models, and industrial partnerships.
The company has raised £8.5 million ($11.42 million) in funding to date and the fresh capital will be used to hire more AI specialists, put toward research and development, expand its experimental lab capabilities, and build a go-to-market function within the next two years.
“Ultimately, Imperagen hopes wider use of engineered enzymes will help industries reliably produce products that are cleaner, safer and better for people and the planet, while also making commercial sense for the companies that adopt them,” Levy-Yurista said.
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Tech
General Catalyst just led a $63M bet on India’s travel payments market
Scapia, an Indian startup that combines travel booking with co-branded credit cards and mobile payments, has raised $63 million in a funding round led by General Catalyst, with existing investors Peak XV Partners and Z47 also participating. The deal comes despite a broader slowdown in fintech dealmaking.
The all-equity round assigns the startup a post-money valuation of more than $500 million, according to a source familiar with the matter, more than doubling its valuation from around $200 million in April 2025. The four-year-old outfit has raised $126 million to date from investors.
That General Catalyst, one of the most prominent U.S. venture firms, is leading the round suggests that India’s travel-focused fintech market is drawing serious attention well beyond its home region.
The funding also comes as investors globally grow more selective in fintech bets after years of aggressive funding. In India, fintech funding remained largely flat in Q1 2026, while the number of deals fell by more than half from a year earlier as investors concentrated capital into fewer, larger deals, per a recent report by Tracxn. By contrast, the U.S. saw fintech funding grow sharply, driven by large rounds for a handful of companies in areas including AI and crypto infrastructure.
Investors are betting Scapia can benefit from growing demand among younger Indians for apps that combine payments and travel bookings. Founded in 2022 by former Flipkart executive Anil Goteti, the startup’s app combines co-branded credit cards, UPI-based payments, travel bookings, and commerce in one place. UPI — India’s government-backed real-time payments network and one of the most widely used digital payment systems in the world — is central to how younger Indians move money today.
Over the past year, Scapia said flight bookings on its platform grew nearly six times, while hotel bookings increased about eightfold, with smaller Indian cities driving a growing share of demand. Customer growth also rose sevenfold during the same period, the startup said, without disclosing absolute figures.
Scapia has seen strong adoption among younger travelers who increasingly want flexible travel rewards and integrated payment options instead of traditional credit card perks, Goteti said in an interview. He added that one-third of users now prefer airport dining and shopping rewards over lounge access.
“Lounges are getting quite crowded,” Goteti told TechCrunch. “People actually are looking for an experience outside the lounge.”
Scapia also offers a dual-network co-branded credit card using both Visa and RuPay — a government-backed Indian payment network — allowing users to access card payments and UPI-linked credit through a single statement, credit line, and repayment flow. Moreover, the startup partners with Federal Bank and BOBCARD to offer co-branded cards and plans to add another banking partner in the coming months, Goteti said.
The Bengaluru-based startup operates in a growing market for travel-focused financial products in India, competing with companies like Niyo — another Indian startup that combines banking and travel features — and travel platform Ixigo, while global fintech firms including Revolut are also eyeing the country.
Scapia, which has about 250 employees, said the fresh funding will go toward expanding its product offerings and hiring more AI-focused engineering and product talent as competition intensifies in India’s consumer fintech market.
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Tech
Truecaller gets into the eSIM business to diversify its revenue streams
Caller ID company Truecaller launched eSIM services for travelers. The launch comes as the company aims to bolster its balance sheet and diversify business amid dipping ad revenues.
The company said its plans will range from 1 GB over 7 days to 20 GB over 30 days. Initially, the launch will make the eSIM product available in 29 countries.
The list includes Italy, Sweden, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Austria, Finland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, Norway, Chile, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria.
Notably, the company’s biggest market, India, is missing from the list. This is likely due to the country’s strict telecom regulations. Previously, the country blocked Airalo and Holafly over concerns around fraudulent use.
Truecaller said it is working with global cellular connectivity provider Telna and telecom software provider Telness Tech to operate the eSIM platform.
Where there are other eSIM providers like Airalo, Holafly, Roamless, and NordVPN’s Saily, Truecaller thinks that its existing user base of over 500 million will prove beneficial for acquiring new users.
“The starting point is different from other players in the category. They have had to build their audiences from zero. We are offering travel eSIM inside our app that over 500 million people already use and trust every month,” Truecaller chief operating officer Fredrik Kjell told TechCrunch over email.
“These are established relationships, with a large number of people having used Truecaller for many years. That changes distribution and pricing,” said Kjell.
Kjell also said that this is a strategic move for Truecaller that makes the app more usable for users. This comes at a critical time for the company. Last week, the company slashed 70 jobs across many teams. Plus, it posted disappointing Q1 2026 numbers. Truecaller’s net sales dropped 27% to 362 million SEK ($39.34 million), and ad revenues declined by 44%.
The company is leaning into increasing subscription revenues with features like AI Assistant and Family Protection. During times when ad revenue is shaky, additional services like eSIM could provide newer money-making avenues.
As TechCrunch reported last year, eSIM adoption is on the rise thanks to travel and device compatibility. Investors are also interested in putting money into eSIM startups. Within the last 12 months, startups like Airalo, Roamless, Kolet, eSIMo, and Truley raised millions of dollars.
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