Source: Sesame Street

A venture fund formed by the company behind the beloved TV show "Sesame Street" has invested in a start-up that wants computer building and coding to return to the forefront of consumer technology. Kano, known for its do-it-yourself computer building kits for kids, said that it had bagged the funding from Sesame Ventures, the social-minded venture arm of Sesame Workshop, to help it fuel growth and work on new products. The investment was part of a $28 million funding round Kano scored last year, however the companies did not disclose how much has been poured into the start-up in this latest injection of cash. Alex Klein, Kano's chief executive and co-founder, said on Friday that the firm's aim was to help children and people of all ages understand how the technology they use every day works, instead of just consuming it much in the way that people use platforms like Facebook and Netflix. "We see dozens of hours of engagement, actually a level of engagement especially in the first month which rivals Snapchat," Klein told CNBC over the phone. "What people are doing on Kano is not just using applications like Whatsapp or Wikipedia or Minecraft but remaking them and sharing their own versions of them."

Kano

The company doesn't just make DIY computer kits. And its products aren't just aimed at children. It has an online platform where users can create their own games and websites and motion sensor hardware that can be programmed to perform a range of tasks. "Half of the users on our online platform which is free to use are over the age of 18," Klein said. Kano says it has sold more than 250,000 devices across 150 countries. It competes with computing firm Arduino, which also makes DIY computer building kits.

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