CEO Ben Mallett has a few goals and milestones to hit over the next few months – but the app’s success so far, with over 1,000 downloads in the first week of launching, has been encouraging.
Ben says Imperial has been instrumental in the businesses success – and not just because it is where the team banded together. The children’s video calling and reading app integrates books, which are a favourite for parents to read their kids a bedtime story, from a distance.
The team regularly receive calls and emails from enthusiastic customers.
When users like Caribu, they love Caribu.
Which sector do you operate in?
Mobile, App, Technology.
What does the business do and what are your core products?
Caribu is a children’s video calling and reading application. By integrating children’s picture books into a simple, child-friendly video calling app, Caribu provides a truly engaging long-distance communication experience for kids.
Who is the founder/CEO?
I am the CEO.
The four co-founders met at Imperial College – the others are Philip Linnemann, Alvaro Sabido and Si Dhanak.
How was the company founded?
We were all studying the MSc in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management. We got together, started brainstorming different ideas and then looked into the kid-space or children’s app-space, and communications within that space.
We found that FaceTime, Skype – just weren’t engaging kids enough at all. Convos get a bit dull, repetitive and frustrating for both parties – parent and child. So we made video-calling for kids.
Over the course of our lean development, we really found it was the bedtime story people missed the most. And we went forward with that.
What’s the businesses main revenue stream?
We are a freemium application [the app is free to download] and we have a free book to get our users started. And within the app we have a bookshop [the main revenue stream]. In the future we plan to look at bringing in a subscription model.
You’re based in the Microsoft venture accelerator – how helpful has that been for the company?
It’s an exceptional program, based in Whitechapel, and we have some amazing mentors. We also get a lot of workshops and that can be on user experience, on accounting, on legal – every single aspect of the business.
They are going all out for us, so we have access to their rolodex, which is exceptionally useful. It’s great to be in such an exciting atmosphere.
How important has an MSc from Imperial been in the businesses development?
I believe it’s been integral, to be honest. Firstly and fundamentally, I met my co-founders there. If I hadn’t gone, it wouldn’t exist. In terms of their [Imperial’s] network, putting us in touch with contacts was extremely valuable to us.
Of course, that grounding in entrepreneurship, accountancy and venture capital and product development – they are all exceptionally useful skills to learn.
Obviously, we carried on learning after the Masters as we released the product. But I don’t think we’d be in the position we are in today without being at Imperial.
What are the goals for the business now?
Eight out of ten of the most-used apps on mobile devices are communications apps. But not a single one of those is designed for kids. That’s what we’re trying to do at Caribu – build a communications app for kids to create long-lasting, rich engagement between families. And we have a tremendous amount of scope to accomplish that.
Whether through more educational value or new features – I’m not sure yet – we want to be the communications app for children and separated families.
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