Meet Kunda Kids! The award-winning, Black family-owned children’s publishing, ed-tech, and media company has launching a new animated YouTube series, Kunda & Friends!
The Kunda Kids expansion comes thanks in part to the $700,000 in pre-seed funding led by Zrosk Investment Management.
Founded by the mother-and-father duo, Oladele and Louisa Olafuyi, the parents launched their children’s publishing company after struggling to find an educational animated show during the COVID-19 lockdown for their son that portrayed African culture.
The happily married couple, who met in London while working as experienced marketers with top companies, modeled their series of children’s content around their mission to infuse African culture into modern storylines and integrate Black excellence into media and literature.
The music-led, 3D animated series is set in an African landscape and tells the story of Kunda, a 4-year-old boy of mixed African heritage, who takes viewers on his adventures exploring the world around him with his friends, Sana, a girl of mixed African and Indian heritage; Fela, a boy from Nigeria; and Leo the lion and Ella the elephant.
Through books, music, gifts, accessories
, and an app, Kunda Kids is engaging kids of all ages in new and inclusive ways.The Kunda & Friends soundtrack takes inspiration from African culture, with influences from genres like Afrobeats and Amapiano. With a storyline anchored on friendship and prosocial life lessons, Kunda & Friends provides parents and educators with an opportunity to teach and play with their children as they watch together.
Now after closing a $700,000 pre-seed funding round, Kunda Kids wants to create more opportunities for African artists, writers, producers, and business leaders in an inclusive, learning environment.
“This new infusion of capital not only shows that people continue to believe in Kunda Kids and what we’re building, but that our mission is resonating with audiences,” Louisa Olafuyi tells BLACK ENTERPRISE.
“The funds will be utilized to further build out the Kunda Kids mobile app and continue working with fantastic creative talent from across the African diaspora. We’re also thrilled to be launching our new Kunda & Friends YouTube series, our flagship animation series, on May 29, 2023. As we continue to expand and bring on new talent, we aim to inspire a sense of pride in one’s culture for the individuals who interact with our programming.”
To learn more, visit kundakids.com or download the Kunda Kids app on iOS and Google Play.
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