WENDY, CHICAGO-BASED STARTUP, LAUNCHES AI STORY-BUILDING TOOLBOX FOR KIDS

The kidSAFE certified app will offer kids and parents an alternative to gaming, social media and passive video consumption, reclaiming time for reading and creative play

CHICAGO, March 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Wendy, a new kind of story company, has launched a children's story-building toolbox app that provides a safe and engaging story-building experience, helping children unlock their creativity and immersing them in endless possibilities for imaginative reading adventures. With kids' digital activity time rapidly increasing while literacy rates decrease, the Wendy app offers an engaging story-telling experience for kids to rediscover their love of reading.

With the Wendy app, children participate in a guided, choice-based story-building process powered by safe AI. Having earned a kidSAFE certification and a 5-star review from Educational App Store, Wendy encourages kids to use technology safely to participate in creative play alongside friends in a secure and trusted environment. Kids can create reusable characters and settings and directly guide story development through individual choices on genres, themes, tones, places, reality level, illustration styles, personalities, roles, interests, jobs and superpowers. These personalized selections result in unique, professional-quality genre-based short stories, ready in minutes, that are illustrated and available to enjoy in three ways: reading, follow-along narration or as an audiobook.

"As a parent, I've come to recognize that reading is more than just a pastime – it's the foundation for a child's cognitive, social and emotional development," said Lance Neuhauser, founder & CEO of Wendy. "As an entrepreneur, I see how big of a draw – and problem – these attention-grabbing platforms are for kids. Kids are losing the undeniable benefits that reading provides. But in order to re-engage children in reading, we can't just recreate the book. We need to use a combination of modern technology, authors, illustrators and a community of experts to redefine what children's stories are, so that kids see story-building and reading as exciting, if not more exciting, than anything else available to them."

In today's tech-driven world, reading faces increased competition for children's free time. A recent Scholastic study reveals a steady rise in children's digital activities since 2018, with gaming leading the way – now engaging 84% of kids daily. Watching YouTube videos follows closely, with 82% participation. The most significant growth in these trends is seen among children ages 6 to 11. The study also found that between the ages of 8 and 9, there is a 40% decline in reading enjoyment, frequency, and perceived importance, terming it the "Decline by 9".

Wendy introduces additional engaging elements to the app, like Wendy original characters, that appear alongside user-created characters, reuse of all characters and settings in new stories, and the ability to connect with friends to swap characters and more. Wendy will also bring a first-of-its-kind approach to content licensing that creates sustainable, ethically sourced IP relationships with the professional publishing community, enabling a child to use their favorite characters in their own stories. Wendy also compensates authors, illustrators and personalities for their work in a time when AI poses a threat to IP and art. 

After launching out of Interplay's foundry, where Neuhauser was an operating partner, Wendy raised $2.25M in its pre-seed round led by Lightbank and joined by a group of strategic angels. Prior to Wendy, Neuhauser successfully founded, scaled and exited four different venture capital and private equity-backed SaaS and global service companies including Resolution Media (acquired by Omnicom), The Echo System (acquired by Voxsup), 4C Insights (acquired by Vista/Mediaocean), and Mediaocean (acquired by CVC Capital Partners). Wendy's investors, advisors and leadership team are made up of seasoned start-up veterans, several from Neuhauser's past ventures, all brought together to elevate Wendy's important mission: increase children's reading.

Wendy is available via subscription through the App Store and supported on the iOS platform for iPad. For more information please visit www.trywendy.com or to download the Wendy app please visit the App Store.

About Wendy

Wendy is a new kind of story company, helping kids rediscover the joy of reading through its innovative reading entertainment app. By providing an immersive story-building experience and the ability to work alongside friends, Wendy helps children reclaim time for reading and creative play, offering parents a valuable alternative to gaming, social media, and passive video consumption. Founded in June 2023, the Chicago-based start-up is part of Lightbank's portfolio and developed at Interplay's foundry. For more information or to download the Wendy app, please visit trywendy.com.

About Lightbank:

Lightbank is an early stage venture fund based in Chicago. The firm has $680 of AUM and is currently investing out of a $290m Fund III into pre-seed, seed, and Series A technology companies. Lightbank Partners are multi-exit founders and operators, having started companies such as Tempus (NASDAQ:TEM), Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN), Echo Logistics (acq. by The Jordan Company), Mediaocean (acq. by CVC and TA), Innerworkings (acq. by HH Global), and others. Lightbank portfolio companies have created over $25B in enterprise value and include companies such as Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT), Udemy (NASDAQ:UDMY), Fiverr (NYSE:FVRR), Tastytrade (acq. by IG Group), and others.

About Interplay:

Interplay is a NY-based innovation firm designed to support founders at every stage of their lifecycle. Interplay manages a venture capital fund, incubator, foundry and a family office. In addition, the firm operates a 500+ person services platform for startups. Wendy was developed in Interplay's foundry.

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SOURCE Wendy