In a world more and more formed by screens, Munich-based startup BiMA is carving out a brand new path for youngsters’s leisure. The corporate has secured €500,000 in pre-seed funding, led by Antler, with participation from a distinguished group of angel traders, together with the Oetinger Publishing Group, the primary backers of Germany’s hit audio platform Tonies.
Among the many different traders are Andreas Peters, former Managing Director at Disney, Felix van de Sande, founding father of Kickbase and design company COBE, and Silvia Sommer, e-commerce knowledgeable and organiser of the Quick & Curious occasions in Munich.
The contemporary funding will gasoline BiMA’s entry into the market and help its ambition to redefine how households share tales.
Creating significant moments for households
Based in 2024 by Larissa Ruf (CEO) and Greta Garkisch (CTO), BiMA was born out of a perception that expertise ought to deepen actual connections slightly than distract from them.
The 2 Munich natives first met at Academy Seek the advice of Munich, a number one pupil consultancy, earlier than founding a joint enterprise and later BiMA. Collectively, they’re utilizing expertise to create significant moments for households.
BiMA’s first product is a screen-free projector that turns youngsters’s bedrooms into story-infused, ambient areas. The gadget, formed like a collectable rocket, blends mild projection, mild, and sound to create immersive storytelling experiences. Its design encourages creativeness and focus with out the overstimulation related to conventional screens. Dad and mom can flip bedtime right into a shared ritual slightly than a negotiation over display screen time.
The idea locations BiMA in direct dialog with main gamers within the edutainment market, together with Tonies, Yoto Participant, and Lunii. However whereas these merchandise concentrate on audio or modular play, BiMA introduces a brand new sensory layer: visible immersion with out screens. The end result bridges creativeness, mindfulness, and household connection in a method that feels each nostalgic and forward-looking.
What’s subsequent?
Trying past the launch, BiMA goals to construct a broader ecosystem of storytelling instruments and conscious leisure merchandise. Larissa Ruf, co-founder and CEO of BiMA, feedback: “Most toys are designed to maintain children busy, and that’s completely high quality. However we wished to create one thing totally different: a product that brings households collectively on the most significant time of day. With BiMA, evenings develop into magical moments of connection and creativeness.”
Julia Bielenberg, Managing Director at Oetinger Publishing Group, feedback: “We see BiMA as a pure continuation of our custom of storytelling innovation. Simply as Tonies created a brand new method for households to expertise tales, BiMA has the potential to redefine the way in which youngsters work together with creativeness, creativity, and calm.”
