Pok Pok, a kids app maker focused on building play-based learning experiences for preschoolers, has made a name for itself in the iOS developer community, winning both the App Store Cultural Impact Award and an Apple Design Award, but with its latest funding, the company is ready to expand its reach by offering its apps and new STEM-based activities to families with both iOS and Android devices.
The app, Pok Pok Playroom, currently offers 17 different play experiences for kids to explore creative play that are more like “digital toys” than games, including touch-sensitive “toys,” drawing tools, shape manipulation toys, dress-up toys, dinosaur toys and more.
The idea for Pok Pok was originally hatched within Snowman, the studio behind award-winning iOS games such as Alto's Adventure, Alto's Odyssey and Skate City, and was born out of the company's culture of trial and error.
Snowman employees Matthijs Demerg and Esther Huebreg, now vice president of design and chief creative officer at PokPok, and their team were looking for an app to entertain their young son, James. But the co-founders didn't find many options they liked. They wanted something playful, but not too technical or gamified. After building a prototype of the product, they showed it to Snowman co-founder and creative director Ryan Cash, who saw the potential. Ryan's sister, Melissa Cash, who worked on baby products at Disney, joined the team and is now CEO of a PokPok spinout company.
Since its debut in May 2021, Pok Pok has added new learning experiences to the app, raised $3 million in a seed round, and achieved six-figure monthly recurring revenue. Over the past year, business has grown fivefold and subscriber numbers ninefold, though the startup isn't ready to share hard numbers just yet. The app itself has been downloaded more than 1 million times.
Image credit: Pok Pok
The startup's growth caught the attention of investors, leading to a $6 million Series A round. The round was led by Adjacent's Nico Wittenborn, who has also invested in other subscription businesses such as Oura, Calm, Clue and Blinkist. Other angel investors also participated in the round, including Konvoy Ventures, MetaLab Ventures, Banana Capital and Instacart's Brandon Leonardo.
Although the team was thrilled to have raised an oversubscribed round of funding, they were concerned that there were no women on the cap table, given that the company is led by women and is developing a product for families.
“That didn't sit well with us,” CEO Melissa Cash told us, “so we decided to shift our allocation. We set aside some cash from the round. We didn't want to delay everything, so we did the first close, but we pulled the cash and did the second close. It actually took us longer to raise money than the second close because it was so hard to find women investors to join after Series A.”
The researchers found that while many female-led venture capitalists are involved with pre-seed or seed-stage companies or funds, they tend not to be decision makers or check writers.
“That nuance was really important to us. And while we found a lot of great angel investors, they didn't have the capital or the wealth to invest in a Series A because obviously there's a minimum investment amount. So it was a really eye-opening experience,” she said. “I thought if there was any company that could be backed by women, it was Pok Pok.”
Because of these challenges, the second round is taking longer to close than the first, and includes other investors like Peanuts' Michelle Kennedy.
Another new investor is Julie McGill, PokPok's fractional CFO, who also serves as an LP in several larger venture funds. Like the PokPok team, she was frustrated with the company's struggle to find women to add to its capital table. McGill eventually launched an entirely new fund, the Julie Change Fund, just to invest in PokPok. Going forward, the fund will focus on attracting wealthy individual women to invest at the Series A stage and beyond.
“Pok Pok is my catalyst for launching a fund I've been thinking about for years – my commitment to breaking down the barriers women face in accessing, advancing and accumulating capital,” McGill said in a statement. “We are thrilled to partner with Pok Pok, a company led by two incredible women that excels at driving capital-efficient growth.”
With the additional funding, Pok Pok plans to expand its offering to include more STEM-based activities in response to parents' requests for more traditional learning experiences, not just playful experiences within the app. While the new activities are still aimed at preschoolers, Pok Pok also recognizes that younger and older users continue to use the app and is designing it accordingly.
The company will also be able to cater to demand for Android later this fall, with many families buying Android tablets for their kids because they're more affordable, Cash said.
“We want Pok Pok to be available to everyone, and this waiting list has been growing for quite some time now, with thousands of users just waiting,” she said.