Being a Y Combinator alum is an impressive feat one time. Darius Monsef has done it twice. Once with COLOURlovers which went on to become Creative Market that then went on to be acquired by Autodesk. And once with Brave Care, a system of pediatric clinics empowered by technology and creativity designed to advance urgent pediatric care. Now, he and Asa Miller — his cofounder at Brave Care — are on to their next pursuit. Again, with a distinct focus on kids and creativity — with a substantial sprinkling of AI. Meet Genie.
So what’s Genie do…? According to Darius, it’s designed to solve a problem with tech, specifically around AI and kids:
I’d like to introduce you to Genie, every child’s kind, fun, confidence-building friend. And it’s free!
Genie serves as an infinite source of knowledge, creative play or empathetic conversation. While kids can message their friends and chat (pretty typical for a messaging app), Genie stays in every conversation as a moderator and companion to support friendly interactions between kids… and an AI partner for parents who can alert them, in real time, to concerning or dangerous behavior that would otherwise be hidden.
Genie is currently in beta, available on iOS and designed for the iPad. I’ll be continuing to track it as it moves into general availability. It’s not that often that we get to see a third act from a Portland serial startup founder. So I’m watching with interest. Plus, it’s AI. So that only makes it all that more exciting.
For more information or to join the beta, visit Genie.