Participated · Seed · Aug 2020

A Kids Company About was founded in 2019 in Portland, Ore., after CEO Jelani Memory wrote A Kids Book About Racism. The company began as a book publisher and has expanded into podcast production and a newly launched series of online classes targeting middle- and early-high-school students. Content is developed via a workshop model that produces books in a day and centers first-person “owned voices” on topics such as racism, divorce, anxiety, activism, gender, cancer, and authenticity. Memory emphasizes honesty with kids and inclusive contributor workflows to lower barriers for new storytellers. The startup has prioritized a diverse team and investor base and has quadrupled headcount in the past year to 25 employees. In April the company closed a $7 million Series A, strengthening its financial position for continued content and product expansion. A Kids Book About publishes short illustrated children’s books that tackle difficult subjects such as racism, cancer, divorce and COVID-19. The company uses a fast, workshop-driven model that co-writes a book in a single day and typically brings titles to market in about 45 days. It launched in 2019 with 12 titles and today offers 25 titles with more planned, including fast-tracked books on white privilege and systemic racism. The business is primarily direct-to-consumer and follows a novel publishing model that pays authors no less than 10% of book revenue. After George Floyd’s murder the company saw a rapid spike in demand—within 10 days it recorded north of $1M in revenue, sold out nearly all titles and at one point had roughly 50,000 books on backorder. During the pandemic the company produced a COVID-19 book in four days as a free e-book and has a physical edition available for pre-order.