# Caribu

Read and draw together in a video-call!

## Elevator pitch
Caribu is a shared screen video-call platform that helps parents and grandparents to read and draw with (grand)children when they're not in the same location. A trusted adult and child call each other through a Caribu video-call, choose a book, and read or draw together in real-time on a shared screen. There are hundreds of books, and educational workbooks and games, to choose from in seven different languages.

- Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/caribu
- Entity ID: wefunder:company:41506
- Last updated: 2026-06-15T05:00:16Z
- Generated at: 2026-06-15T18:20:28Z

## Quick facts
- Raised $1.3M from investors like AT&T and Rise of the Rest.
- CEO was a senior leader at TFA, White House, Gates Foundation, and Office of Mayor Bloomberg.
- 50K users in 160+ countries.
- 700+ books to choose from in 7 different languages.
- First-mover focused on grandparents who are a large and underserved market. $39B SAM in the US.
- Team backgrounds include Disney, Aidoc, Y Combinator, and Booksicals.
- CEO was 59th Latina to raise over $1M.
- 250,000 minutes spent on Caribu last year.

## Active fundraises
- wefunder:fundraise:28482: 506(c) successful (USD)
- wefunder:fundraise:27886: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)

## Story
Caribu redefines the way multi-generational families communicate. Children and their families can read and draw together through an interactive video-call, and Caribu plans to first go after the untapped and underserved $86B grandparent market.It’s 2019, and video-call relationships with kids suck.Parents work late, travel for work, are divorced, and may serve in the military. 90% of grandparents live far away from their grandchildren, and most of these adults use smartphones and tablets to stay connected through boring video-calls. Kids hate video-calls, making long-distance relationship building extremely hard. Sadly, in today’s world, human connection is a luxury.So we built, Caribu.Caribu is an interactive video-calling platform that helps grandparents read and draw with their grandchildren when they're not in the same location. Read Together. Draw Together. Be Together.Caribu is using tech to rapidly scale and innovate a solution for the hundreds of millions of families, across the globe, that are separated by distance and want to make memories together with their (grand)children through mobile and tablet devices. Our in-app library has hundreds of books from leading children’s publishers in seven languages, and interactive educational workbooks and activities that you can draw on in real-time. The result is an engaging experience in a carefully designed, curated, and secure platform. As our users say, “It’s FaceTime that kids don’t run away from.”We bootstrapped through Pitch competitions.Soon after co-founding Caribu, Max, our CEO decided to bootstrap the company through pitch competitions. Between 2017-2018, Caribu was the winner or finalist in 30+ pitch competitions winning $100K in non-dilutive cash and prizes. It kept us going as we built out our subscription model and tested our market. Max was named a Toyota Mother of Invention, which came with a $50K grant, and when we won the 1776 Global Pitch Competition, we officially became World Champs, and secured an investment from Revolution’s Rise Of The Rest Seed Fund and then AT&T. The $1.3M that set our foundation.We raised $1.3M in Q2 2018 to do three things: Grow our team (Alvaro and Max are rockstars but couldn’t fulfill their plan for global domination by themselves!), refresh the platform with React Native (so we’d have both an Android and iOS app, sharing the same code), and grow our content partnerships. The team is now a full-time team of 5 rockstars, we’re on iOS and Android, and we have brought on amazing content partners like Mattel, Highlights, and Sesame Street.Enter Glamma.A Glamma is a glamorous grandma. She’s 50-70 years old, active, professional, and a “silver” mine. She is tech-savvy, stays in touch with family on an iPad, and just like a significant portion of grandparents, controls the majority of disposable income spend in the US., makes 4x what a millennial mom makes (median net worth of ~$200K), and wants to spoil her grandchildren silly! She’s trying to build a relationship with them long-distance but FaceTime isn’t cross-platform and Skype and WhatsApp calls are, well… not a great experience with young kids. The 72M grandparents, just in the U.S., spend an average of $1,200 a year entertaining their grandkids, adding up to an $86B TAM and $39B serviceable addressable market.For grandparents, Caribu is an antibiotic, not a vitamin.We did a Product Market Fit survey in January, where the minimum goal is to have 40% of your users say they would be "very disappointed" if Caribu went away tomorrow. Not only did 33% of our power users say they would be very disappointed if Caribu went away, but when we adjusted for personas, 46% of our power users that identified as grandparents would be very disappointed if Caribu ceased to exist. It’s very clear that we are on to something! We’ve heard from multiple investors and partners in the #AgeTech space that we’re the first of our kind in this market. While other tech companies are focused on connecting seniors to other seniors, we’re connecting them to their own families. We have the First Mover Advantage and, as one investor said, “if you can nail your Go To Market strategy and reach Glammas, you will print cash.” #ChallengeAcceptedExplosive early traction + engagement.We have 50,000 registered users reading together in 160+ countries and 4k+ global cities. As we’ve optimized our conversion funnels for Glamma, we’ve seen clear improvements across multiple metrics. Glamma’s loyalty is strong! We are now ready to scale the business by going after the Glamma market in earnest.Most importantly, our customers love us!We have a great rating in the Apple App Store and count A-Rod, Howie Mandel, and Nick Lachey as celebrity fans!Our Business Model.Caribu has a monthly and yearly in-app subscription and a gift subscription option. With only 575K subscribers and conservative retention of one year in the current platform, our financial projections put us at $41M in revenue in just 3 years. And we give back.Because our company was inspired by a soldier who was just trying to be an awesome dad and read his daughter a bedtime story, we’ve partnered with the non-profit Blue Star Families to donate free subscriptions of Caribu to all currently serving US military. In 2018, Toyota sponsored 2,000 Caribu subscriptions for military families to read and draw together during the holiday season.Our next steps are…To keep growing the team in engineering and on the marketing side. Add more engaging and buzz-worthy content and build new revenue streams, features, and products. To go after traveling parents, divorced parents, extended family, and military after we crush the Glamma market.We’ll increase Customer LTV by adding other features to Caribu Consumer (our current platform) and building out Caribu Platform (our future platform) where we license our technology to tutoring and language learning companies.We’re doing well by doing good. We’re on a mission to change the way families around the world connect and create value for our investors.

## FAQ
1. **Great idea, fantastic team. With a generation of grandparents who are more tech savvy I think there is a lot of potential here. I have three concerns: First, with 50K users your revenue is under 50K/year, so how does this truly get to a multiple of your valuation? Second, if y...**
   - Hey Alan! Thanks so much for your interest and your great questions. On the revenue side, we decided to prioritize product and funnel optimization over marketing and increasing revenue. After our Glamma epiphany, we started to see really great improvements in the funnel and increases in engagement, and we added a yearly and lifetime subscription option, so now we're raising on Wefunder to hire a Marketing VP and raise marketing dollars to scale all of this good momentum. On the defensibility ...
2. **Hi, Maxeme I have a few questions regarding about your Company. Does your company offer any free trail? In the near future, have you considered to keep upgrading if its need it, for this app how many lenguajes is your target. last question, at the moment is there any Competiti...**
   - Hi Santos, All great questions! 1) Yes, Caribu is free to download and free to try for 15 days. 2) We update the app almost every two weeks as we continue to upgrade the product and add new features. 3) We have seven languages right now but hope to have many more in the future. With customers in 164 countries we know we have many families that speak many languages. 4) When you think of what Glammas are using right now to build a relationship with their grandkids it's really just FaceTime, Sky...
3. **When does your campaign close?**
   - Hey Baron! We'll probably close when we hit our goal of $500K. Early bird went fast so make sure you get in before we raise the whole thing. :)
4. **As someone who has been deployed as a contractor, this product seems awesome. To follow up on Alan's question though, revenue of only $3K+ a month is not very much. Given the product is up and running, is your priority still product optimization or now generating revenues? Is ...**
   - Hey Marc, Thanks for thinking we're awesome. That's exactly why we donate subscriptions to all currently serving military. We know deployment is difficult for families. You're absolutely right, we've been dying to start focusing on revenue but knew we had to build a strong conversion funnel and unit economic engine first since we know from previous tests that we're really strong at the top of the funnel. We reduced marketing spend and have spent A LOT of effort getting to the pretty great con...
5. **Not a question, I just wanted to say that this is wonderful idea!**
   - Haha! We accept compliments all day, every day! Thank you Michael! Let us know if you do end up having any questions as you consider joining us as an investor. :) 

## Team
- Maxeme Tuchman (CEO + Co-Founder)
- Alvaro Sabido (CTO + Co-Founder)
- Tiffany LaFleur (Head of Design)
- Trent Ewald (Senior React Native Developer (App))
- Kalman Chodakiewitz (Product Manager)

## Recent posts
- Caribu: App Store 'Best of 2020' Winner (2020-12-02T10:24:24Z)
- Caribu Featured On The TODAY Show! (2020-11-25T10:33:42Z)
- Caribu Partners with DC to Add 75+ Kid-Friendly Comics Starring Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, DC Super Hero Girls, Looney Tunes, and More (2020-09-08T10:17:59Z)
- Caribu Brings On Multi-Platinum Recording Artist Kevin Jonas as its Newest Strategic Investor and Advisor (2020-05-07T08:51:48Z)
- CARIBU NAMED ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 BEST INVENTIONS OF 2019 (2019-11-21T14:18:43Z)
- Question (2019-10-09T21:10:26Z)
- Caribu Exhibiting At TechCrunch Disrupt In San Francisco (2019-10-03T07:42:13Z)
- Update On Closing Our Round (2019-09-30T08:38:36Z)
- Caribu closed (2019-09-25T22:17:13Z)
- You're Invested In One Of The 100 Women Building America's Most Innovative And Ambitious Businesses (2019-09-16T18:13:11Z)
- Two Days Left! (2019-09-15T03:57:08Z)
- Honored To Receive 'The American Dreamer' Award (2019-09-12T09:09:22Z)
- Caribu Is Taking Off Like A 🚀 (2019-09-10T06:00:03Z)
- Caribu's CEO Named In 2019 Power Leaders In Technology List By The South Florida Business Journal (2019-09-09T08:49:52Z)
- Caribu’s Popularity Leads To Oversubscription (2019-09-03T08:11:25Z)

## Q&A
- Q: When will we be getting the perks that were associated with our investment levels?
  - A: Hey Spencer, If you're part of the first group of investors that were recently confirmed you should have just received a form to claim your perks. If you're still on the waitlist you'll receive that survey in the next few weeks once your investment is confirmed. Please let me know if you have any other questions!
- Q: I am at a lost as to why the communication has ceased to exist, any updates?
- Q: Are we going to get any updates?
- Q: I am really confused that my investment was accepted then canceled after 5 months. Why after 5 months? 
- Q: Hi I’m an investor. Where do we find the Subscription Agreement? Thank you.
  - A: Hey Mary, I just replied to the email you sent. Thx!
- Q: I am an investor. As with Ron Reed below, I have yet to hear from Wefunder and the Reg D rounds. This is my 4th email, I believe, sent to Caribu and /or Wefunder. I’ve been told to expect an email from Wefunder. Still no communication. It has been explained thatthese processes to take time. I’ve been told Wefunder was to send out emails for us to choose transitioning monies. Max has asked that we do this. But no emails. Please update. It’s been quite some time, even after the request to make choices for the rounds. Thank you.
  - A: Hi Kathleen, Wanted to make sure to respond to your question, albeit a little delayed. We've been posting updates here on Wefunder. I just sent one today and the last ones were on Nov 15 & 21. Please let me know if for any reason you haven't been able to view them. Thx!
- Q: We invested in 2019 and have heard nothing. I realized that our registered email was compromised and we changed that months ago. New email is realhealth7@hotmail.com Please advise as to what is happening with Caribu.
- Q: Hello! going on 2 years now. Is someone able to help me with claiming my perks as an investor? Thanks, JV
- Q: I have been an investor every since you first started your company. I am just like every other investor. Would you please give me/us a way to monitor our investments. After all, we are the reason you are where you at today. Thank you. I am looking forward for your quick response.
- Q: Hello Max, I invested $7,600 through Wefunder. What's my investor perks? Cant' find anything where I received anything. Thanks
- Q: How do I acquire the stock offered by Caribu for my original investment?
- Q: News I've seen from 2019 to now is that Caribu is continuously operating at a loss, and I'm not really understanding how that is possible. That I invested in a "Future Equity" means that's just money I can't have back and can't move forward. Regretting investing in what I thought was a great idea and wanted to see it succeed.
- Q: What kind of perks are you talking about if I invest in your company?
- Q: It is one thing to be an investor... it is another to be a customer... I was looking forward to being both and now I can say I the worst customer experience which will ultimately translate into a BAD investment. I really had high hope for this startup. Though I was initially pissed that I didn't get the lifetime perk... Don't think it matters anymore because I can't even use the app... What is going on, Updates us on the technicalities and pleeeease Get on it and take advantage of this season when everyone is at home trying to connect with Grandma/pa... Bad time to mess up... please get it together... Cheers
- Q: Why was my investment cancelled to after it was already confirmed months ago??