Chinese startup KidoAI has closed an extension round of seed funding, completing two seed rounds within three months of its founding. In total, it has raised an eight-figure RMB sum. Shunwei Capital and QF Capital backed the round.
KidoAI plans to use the new capital to expand its team, increase R&D spending to grow its product lineup, and move its first batch of products into large-scale manufacturing and market delivery.
Founded in July this year, KidoAI is registered in Shenzhen, Guangdong. It positions itself as a children’s digital lifestyle company built on a model that combines IP, artificial intelligence, and hardware. Through self-developed smart devices, it aims to provide families and children with an AI-driven solution that blends cognitive development, language training, interactive scenarios, and creative expression.
Founder and CEO Huang Yong is a serial entrepreneur who has launched multiple children’s education projects from the ground up. According to 36Kr, he has more than a decade of experience developing and operating AI-powered educational hardware. He is supported by a team with backgrounds in consumer electronics, algorithm development, and edtech, covering content IP creation, AI interaction, and smart hardware design. Together, they combine technical execution with an understanding of real-world educational needs.
KidoAI’s product philosophy centers on using AI to “republish” children’s content. The idea is to take well-established content IP and reconstruct it through AI agents so that it becomes interactive rather than static. The reworked content is then built directly into custom hardware, creating a single integrated product that delivers the material in a new, hands-on format.
Its AI-driven publishing pipeline automates the entire cycle from content creation and review to interaction. It converts printed IP, such as picture books, stories, and popular science materials, into interactive formats that can converse, accompany, and generate personalized content.
For its content strategy, the company targets learning scenarios for users aged 3–18. Its first product, an AI-powered exploration camera, reinterprets “One Hundred Thousand Whys,” a classic children’s encyclopedia series, into an interactive hardware experience designed to turn early knowledge discovery into an immersive learning environment.
KidoAI also plans to partner with additional IP holders to build structured knowledge bases across music, science, and literature, and to develop more AI-powered devices.
A joint report by iResearch and IDC shows that China’s market for children’s educational smart devices, including learning tablets and AI-enabled reading pens, surpassed RMB 38 billion (USD 5.3 billion) in 2024. It is projected to reach RMB 45 billion (USD 6.3 billion) in 2025 and to keep expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 18.5%, potentially exceeding RMB 100 billion (USD 14 billion) by 2030.
Within this segment, learning devices for young children reached approximately RMB 18.5 billion (USD 2.6 billion) with a compound annual growth rate of 12.3%. They are expected to exceed RMB 32 billion (USD 4.5 billion) by 2030. Mid- to high-end products equipped with AI-driven voice recognition account for more than 60% of the market.
The following transcript has been edited and consolidated for brevity and clarity.
36Kr: Your first product does not radically change the hardware structure of existing devices. Where do you see the innovation?
Huang Yong (HY): In our view, successful hardware categories share one basic trait, which is proven user mindshare and established shipping volumes. Our strategy is not to create new categories lightly. Instead, we focus on mature, high-volume tracks with annual shipments of at least three million units. Children’s cameras, which ship tens of millions of units worldwide each year, are a good example. Their form factor is already familiar. That is why our first device adopts the classic card-style rectangular camera design. It avoids the additional education cost that comes with introducing a new form factor.
At the same time, all educational hardware is fundamentally a content carrier. Whether through apps, devices, or paper, users’ core demand is content consumption. Our model centers on classic content IP, reconstructs the content experience with AI, and embeds it into hardware that aligns with users’ mental models. “One Hundred Thousand Whys” has historically been published as books or audio. Within KidoAI’s AI publishing workflow, it becomes an exploration camera for children. The hardware becomes a new output medium, and AI is the engine that lifts the interactive experience.
In essence, KidoAI operates like a new kind of publishing company that uses hardware as its distribution channel. We do not create the content. We reshape how classic content is delivered, making each product a new knowledge medium that carries insight and inspiration.
36Kr: Many hardware companies are pairing devices with well-known IP. How do you plan to maintain long-term relevance?
HY: Every hardware startup faces two challenges: substitution by smartphones and copycat pressure from Huaqiangbei.
On smartphone substitution, we identified a clear gap through user-scenario analysis. Public data shows that smartphone penetration among children under 12 in mainland China remains low. Smartwatches are common, but they mainly handle communication and location tracking, and they fall short in providing a strong photography experience. That gap is why children’s cameras continue to ship tens of millions of units annually.
For users over 12, we adopt a complementary strategy by connecting devices to smartphones and offering more specialized services in certain scenarios.
As for white-label imitation, it is a real concern. Our approach is to build differentiated content moats through deep partnerships with authoritative IP licensors. Huaqiangbei excels at hardware assembly, but replicating a content ecosystem is far more difficult.
36Kr: What has been the most challenging part of product development?
HY: The hardest part is selecting the right hardware carrier for each IP. Traditional publishers choose whether an IP is best suited for picture books, comics, or novels. Similarly, we must determine the optimal hardware form for each piece of content.
The core value of “One Hundred Thousand Whys” is sparking curiosity about the real world. We chose a camera format because capturing reality aligns with the IP’s focus on exploration. When a child photographs an insect, an unusual leaf, or a rainbow, the camera identifies it and activates the relevant encyclopedia section. It becomes a “what you see is what you learn” experience, which books and audio cannot match.
36Kr: That means you need expertise in content operations, AI technology, and their integration.
HY: Yes, and that combination is our core advantage. We have built a full AI-driven content pipeline covering IP intake, content processing, knowledge enrichment, and a three-tier editorial review. By structuring the knowledge base and using methods such as retrieval-augmented generation, we maintain accuracy and professionalism while meeting publishing standards.
On product development, we plan to release three to four devices a year. We will continue using hardware reinvention as our foundation, selecting mature categories to manage supply chain risk. The key is matching each IP with its ideal hardware form and using AI to redesign the interactive experience.
Hardware is the vessel, content is the soul, and AI is the engine that brings it to life. By combining the rigor of traditional publishing, the innovation of AI, and the reliability of mature hardware, we aim to create a new path for turning content into hardware: bringing classic knowledge to life in more vivid and interactive ways for the next generation.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Huang Nan for 36Kr.