Sesame Workshop, the US-based production company that makes educational children’s television show Sesame Street, has launched a corporate venturing division dubbed Sesame Ventures.
The unit will partner venture capital firms to invest in startups and has joined forces with Collaborative Fund to launch an investment vehicle named Collab+Sesame Fund, which will be sized at $10m according to Fast Company.
Sesame Ventures will focus on startups closely aligned to the non-profit’s educational focus and will seek out opportunities in the children’s education, health and social welfare sectors.
Collab+Sesame Fund will focus on six categories for investment – education and media, family development, food, educator tools, health and wellness, and social and emotional development. The two partners have not yet identified any specific startups.
In addition to equity funding, startups will also benefit from mentoring from Sesame Workshop executives and gain the right to use the show’s characters and branding, though they will not be required to make use of that right to secure capital.
Sesame Workshop previously entered into a partnership with children’s TV network Nickelodeon to launch an educational channel named Noggin in 1999, and in 2005 joined forces with media companies PBS, NBCUniversal and Hit Television Ventures to launch Sprout, a channel aimed at pre-schoolers.
Sesame divested its share in Noggin in 2002 and sold its Sprout stake in 2012. It is now using some of those proceeds to invest in Collab+Sesame, Fast Company reported.
Jeffrey Dunn, chief executive of Sesame Workshop, said: “As a non-profit, our success is measured by our global impact on kids’ lives. Sesame Street was the original disrupter in kids’ media, and we have a 45-year history of being a creative workshop dedicated to breaking new ground.
“We are in the midst of an extraordinary time in the history of how digital technology can change the education, health and welfare of kids around the world. History suggests that much of that change will spring from new companies.
“By partnering with some of these startups, Sesame Workshop can help grow the next wave of kid-focused innovation and improve the lives of children everywhere.”