Accelerating Tandem: Taking a Meaningful Step Towards Positive Change
Elevate Great recently announced venture finance backing and acceleration support for growing tech business Tandem which develops safe, ethical, science-led digital solutions to help introduce young children to technology. As well as our pre-seed investment, we are supporting Tandem actively through our in-house expertise including data science, behavioural science and growth strategy.
Screen time - rethinking the potential
The debate about children and screens often gets stuck in extremes with polarised questions about the impact of screens and their content on early child development.
Tandem tackles the challenges of AI and screen time head on, and asks a more useful question: what if screen time could reliably lead to meaningful interaction that strengthens parent-child relationships and supports early years development?
Tandem prioritises children’s development and strong family bonds by using generative AI that provides trustworthy stories and activities designed for co-play between parent and child, replacing passive content with interactive materials that supports healthy development.
Centred on the child, not the app
Tandem applies decades of research experience in child development, public health and AI to build technologies for families that are safe, ethical and grounded in real science.
Our investment recognises this the benefits in making technology more accessible and usable for all families including those most underserves. The Tandem app provides an endless library of tailored stories personalised for each child’s development stage and personal interests. This is significant as children’s developing brains are sensitive to the quality of their experiences and relationships.
Our first experience of tech are our most important experiences of tech. We’re on a mission to build the product we wished existed for our own families: imaginative, research-backed, and wrapped in the right guardrails.
Why we invested in Tandem
Our core mission is to identify, develop, invest in, and scale-up evidence-led solutions to social inequality challenges that can positively shift outcomes at scale. Tandem’s work reflects our ambitions and is therefore we invested through this strand in our overall Investing for Change approach Tandem’s venture is grounded in developmental neuroscience, a genuine commitment to safe, ethical design and a focus on delivering positive social outcomes.
More than 4,000 families are already using the Tandem app. It has secured partnerships with world-renowned specialist NHS providers such as Alder Hey Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Tandem has a unique proposition: deploying emerging technologies into child health and development lens to create a future where technologies enhance early childhood.
What acceleration means to us
Alongside our capital investment, we are working with Tandem to support its ongoing impact through our in-house specialist capabilities.
We're proud to partner with the Tandem team as it continues to build early years technology that brings real value and innovation to improve healthy child development, nurturing relationships with parents and setting off children’s experiences of technology on a safe and positive footing.
Find out more about Tandem: www.playtandem.com