Sesame Ventures

Sesame Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Sesame Workshop, the New York-based non-profit media organization behind Sesame Street, with nearly five decades of child-development and curriculum expertise. Launched in 2016 under the oversight of Tanya Haider, Sesame Workshop's EVP of Strategy, Research, and Ventures, the fund partners with emerging companies innovating in education, health, and social welfare for children — applying Sesame Workshop's kid-centric design-thinking, research rigor, and whole-child pedagogy as value-add beyond capital. Sesame Ventures operates through Collab+Sesame, its flagship vehicle structured as a 50/50 partnership with Collaborative Fund, which serves as the General Partner. The initial fund raised $10 million (split equally between the two partners) and was subsequently scaled to approximately $15 million, backing a portfolio of 10 to 20 companies at seed and Series A with typical checks of $100,000 to $500,000. Sesame Ventures is also a limited partner in Reach Capital's edtech venture fund. Named portfolio investments include Luminopia (an FDA-approved digital therapeutic for pediatric amblyopia), Step (teen fintech and banking), Kano (creative computing for kids), Banjo Robinson (storytelling and edtech), and Yup Technologies (math tutoring), where Collab+Sesame led a $4 million seed extension. In January 2025 Sesame Ventures announced a strategic partnership with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, deepening the fund's focus on child health innovation. The fund's differentiated edge is access to Sesame Workshop's 50-year body of child-development research and its trusted brand with parents, educators, and policymakers — assets that financial VCs cannot replicate. Sesame Ventures pursues a double-bottom-line mandate: financial returns alongside measurable social impact for children.