Slovenian entrepreneur Yvonne Knap grew up watching her mother dedicate her life to elderly care, supporting society’s most vulnerable from one end of life’s journey. Today, Knap is following in her mother’s footsteps – but from the opposite side.
Now, with her startup Starkid Universe, Knap is building a platform to help children learn to regulate their emotions, calm themselves, and build mental resilience from an early age. The company combines puppetry, storytelling, and meditation techniques to create engaging videos and books that teach kids how to manage stress and anxiety – skills that many only learn later in life, often after experiencing burnout or mental health crises.
“We’re creating stories and tutorials for kids and parents so they can learn how to meditate, calm themselves down, and regulate their nervous system,” Knap says. “It’s about giving them the tools they need to thrive, long before they need medication.”
Asked about what was the initial inspiration for Starkid Universe, Knap explains that throughout her career, she saw a direct link between modern lifestyles and worsening mental health among children. “We are focused so much on the outside – being productive, being successful – but we’re not really connecting with how we feel in the moment,” she says. “That’s why depression rates in early stages of development have gone up by more than 50%, and antidepressant use has gone up by around 60%.”
Instead of relying solely on pharmaceuticals, Starkid Universe offers a different approach. “Typically, anxiety and depression are tackled with medication,” Knap says. “But there are many flaws to this solution. I feel like if we could regulate our nervous system before reaching burnout, we wouldn’t even need to medicate. Why medicate if we can avoid the problem?”
Filling a gap that big players haven’t
The startup is focused on a niche often overlooked by major mental health apps. “If you look at competitors in meditation and mindfulness like Calm or Headspace, they do provide some content for children – but they’re not the best at it,” Knap argues. “We want to really nail down a niche and become a brand that is synonymous with kids’ meditation.”
Her motivation comes from personal transformation. “My life changed 10 years ago when I went to Thailand for the first time and studied meditation with Buddhist monks,” she recalls. “It was very eye-opening. I thought, if I bring this to kids, something incredible could happen for society and human brains.”
She explains how meditation changes brain function. “You become more compassionate. The amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for fear, lessens its activity,” Knap says. “We see that if kids start doing breathing exercises, whatever they do, they do better. If they’re skating, they have less fear and progress faster. That’s why all pro athletes meditate – like our Slovenian Olympic medalist Sara Isaković, who visualized herself swimming in Beijing 300 times before she actually competed.”
Combining puppetry and animation for unique stories
As Knap further points out, Starkid Universe’s production costs are manageable while maintaining high engagement. “Doing a full-featured cartoon is very expensive, and honestly, I don’t like the results as much. We found ways to use puppets combined with videography and animations. It’s something closer to humans,” she says.
She wants to move away from typical children’s YouTube content, which she feels is often of low quality. “If you ask ChatGPT, of the five most-watched videos on YouTube ever, three or four are kids’ songs like Baby Shark. But a lot of content out there is just made cheaply to make profits – it’s not helping children,” she says.
“Our stories have this active component,” Knap adds. “It’s not just passive consumption – kids follow the guidance, meditate, and we’ve seen amazing results.”
One of the most powerful pieces of feedback came from a teacher noticing improvements in a student’s reading skills. “The teacher asked the parents if the girl had been in a reading class, but she was actually in a breathing class,” Knap says, smiling. “Another girl who suffered from panic attacks was able to calm herself down for the first time ever using our breathing techniques.”
Building a global brand – and raising funds
Knap has years of experience working with children, having taught over 10,000 kids in six years, including autistic children in the US. “I feel like I really understand how they learn and how to implement these techniques for them,” she says.
Founded last year, the startup is currently bootstrapped but preparing for its pre-seed funding round. “We’re building a platform similar to Masterclass.com but focused on parenting and children’s development,” Knap says. “We want to invite experts to create really high-quality content for challenges like speech development, nutrition, and emotional regulation.”
The team recently launched four stories available for free on their website. “We never want to lock all our solid content. We will operate on a freemium model so that some parts are always free. We want to contribute.” she says.
Now, as Starkid Universe looks to expand globally, Knap remains grounded in her vision: “We’re ready to be seen, to be tested, and to bring real impact to children and parents everywhere.”
