Saturday, December 1, 2018 — Jooki is the smart player that lets kids choose and listen to music and stories with ToyTouch™ Technology. With the simple touch of a toy, toddlers and pre-readers can play music and stories. They are in control to listen, dance, imagine while music or stories play without any help from grownups. Parents select safe playlists from Spotify, web radios, podcasts or audio books. We’re also introducing more features, such as voicemail. That allows parents to remain connected with the kids also when they are away on a business trip, by reading a story or just wishing the children good night.
I started Jooki with my co-founders Will Moffat and Pieter Palmers, two awesome engineers then with Google & Huawei. Being geek dads, we shared the same values of love for our young kids and for technology.
The idea came from my daughters. They were between 3 and 5 years old and they wanted to hear a song. After playing the same track for the fifth or sixth time, I made a mistake: I handed them my smartphone. The phone disappeared, my kids disappeared behind the screen and ended-up watching YouTube. That’s when I realised that we can’t listen to music anymore without a screen, how crazy is that?
When starting my intuition was that screens were acting as a barrier preventing communication with my young children and that didn’t feel right. I now realise the reality is even stronger. Social studies show that since the mass adoption of smartphones around 2010, kids are dramatically more likely to say they are not happy. Recent neurological studies also showed the negative impact of screens on children’s brains development. We want to engage kids’ imagination and help them grow up. We do it by removing the overstimulation from screens and helping the family share experiences.
We did! Being parents with kids in the right age group, we felt we knew what was needed and we have the technical chops to make it happen. Pieter and Will are the perfect guys to design the electronics and software. To create the elegant shape of Jooki and the cute Jooki characters, we found Judicaël Cornu, a wonderful industrial designer in Belgium. He is also a young dad, so he very well naturally understood the concept. We also very much value the inputs of our community of parents. Jooki gets regular software upgrades and we try to put in as many of their ideas as possible.
Though we have thousands of users, Jooki is new and perhaps still a secret to be discovered for many. When they try it, parents and kids alike love it. There is nothing better than when parents tell us that their kids ask for Jooki every day, or when they share cute pictures of their little ones listening to a story, dancing or kissing a Jooki character. In many cases Jooki becomes part of the family routine and that’s something I am very proud of!
Yes, the whole story started precisely from my experience as a young father. I felt I wanted to remove the overstimulation that technology can bring to be able to better connect with my children. At the same time, I love technology and I don’t think that removing ourselves from our society altogether is the sensible way to go. Finding a human way, mixing technology and tenderness, felt like a good approach. That same feeling is driving our company today. We want to help create human experiences for the next generations. We want to bring back a sense of togetherness, safety and purpose.
Theodore Marescaux is the CEO of MuuseLabs, the startup that created Jooki.
Wednesday, September 12, 2018 — Three geek dads created Jooki, a smart player for kids, so preschoolers let go of their phones and grow good habits. With Jooki, kids are in control to listen, dance, imagine while music or stories play without any help from grownups (or Dad’s gadgets). Jooki is the smart player that lets kids choose and listen to music and stories with ToyTouch™ technology.
“I got the idea for the Jooki when I had to take my phone out for the fifth time,” laughs Theo Marescaux, CEO & Founder, “to play the same song over again for my 3-year-old daughter. At home all our music is digital and our kids lost the ability to independently explore music and stories. When I was their age, I could just put a CD or cassette on. That freedom and charm of physical interaction with media has largely disappeared."
Built for kids, Jooki is intuitive with five modern, chunky-sized Characters that can be swapped on a whim to hear something new. Parents link each Character to a playlist created via Jooki’s web or mobile application (Android and iOS). It works with Spotify and many music files (MP3, AIFF, WAV). The portable music player can be used indoors, in the car or at a backyard picnic. There are no plugs, cords or wires to worry about and its battery gives 8 hours of streaming or offline play time. The sound quality is superior thanks to its built-in stereophonic speakers—a big point of differentiation for Jooki. It’s sturdy and bright orange so it’s easy to spot!
Jooki’s brand promise: Every time a Jooki Character touches the Jooki, music or stories will play. The independence offered to young children by this ToyTouch technology is the single most important and unusual thing about Jooki.
“Jooki gives back to children the immediate availability of music,” wrote a reviewer at MidemLab 2018, held in Cannes, France, where the most innovative startups in creative industries gathered, “just like a good old music tape. The high-quality portable WiFi speaker – brightly colored and designed for kids’ hands – works with cute little Characters; when popped on top of Jooki, they trigger playlists. Just like that, nothing else to do to let children enjoy music!”
The rave reviews on Jooki’s Facebook page reveal the same delight by parents. “It was the kind of present you search for a very long time,” wrote one purchaser. “Since it got unwrapped by our son, it runs almost in every situation. It has not lost any attraction over the time because it can be the focused toy or keeps running some songs in the background while playing with other toys. And at the evening always some stories and adventures are running until he falls asleep.”
Pre-readers are the ideal audience for Jooki. A child simply chooses a Character, places it in the outlined circle and like magic, the music or story plays. Lift the Character and the sound stops! Boys and girls are proud of their independence to choose the music or stories without asking a grownup for help. With no plugs or screens in sight, youngsters listen and play without distractions. Daydreaming is encouraged!
Unlike many gadgets, Jooki can be a source of comfort at naptime. As a splash-proof device, it can be used outdoors. Kids can start their day with their favorite get-up-and-go songs or fall asleep with a bedtime story downloaded just for them. Jooki turns off automatically after 15min when there is no activity.
What’s a parent to do? Choose the music, uploaded from a phone using the Jooki app or drag-and-drop from iTunes on a laptop. Or choose Spotify or an internet radio station to create the playlist. Link the Jooki Character to the playlist and place it on Jooki. Now hand over to a child!
As the child matures, and with a parent’s permission, kids can download their own playlists as one online buyer discovered, “My kids love listening to music as they go to bed every night, and I hate to leave their smartphones with them overnight. This is the perfect solution. They load up a playlist on Spotify, pair it with a Character, and then they can turn in their smartphones every night before they go to bed. It's been a great addition to our home.”
Just in time for 2018 Holiday giving perfect for clever grandparents, parents or aunts and uncles who want to create a connected experience with little ones in their lives, discover Jooki on www.jooki.rocks and Amazon where five-star reviews are pouring in including:
“I was looking for a friendly and Spotify compatible music player for my children to bring on vacation and after some research and recommendations I settled on the Jooki. It was an instant hit! It arrived a day early, which is great because we had a play date at home and all the kids jumped on it. Each child ‘called’ their Characters and downloaded their playlists. It’s a pretty easy set up. Kids sang, danced and played all afternoon. Can’t wait to bring it on the trip! You can feel the high quality of the product. It’s worth every penny. I’m very happy to see my kids enjoy the music without having to use the phone. Best gift ever!”
Jooki • $199.99 • Ages 3+
Each Jooki comes with five Characters that can be linked to a child’s favorite playlist. Whether it’s songs from Moana or Dr. Seuss stories, kids pick what they feel like hearing any time of day or night. It’s not magic but your child may think so! Additional playlist tokens can be purchased separately.
Tuesday, August 14, 2018 — With Jooki, children can now listen on their own to Spotify and Deezer playlists, curated by their parents, and more! This award-winning music speaker has launched less than a year ago and is now available in Europe and North America. Widely acclaimed by happy families, Jooki develops children’s independence and imagination, away from screens.
With five cute little figurines to trigger playlists, kids are fully autonomous to play the music they want. They just have to pop a figurine on top of Jooki, and music plays!
Think of the figurines as 3D characters CDs, but each list of songs is curated by the parents. With the Jooki app, parents can either stream playlists from Spotify and Deezer and link them to any figurine, or upload content (MP3 files or from iTunes) directly onto Jooki (with a micro-SD card up to 32Go, more than 1000 songs can be stored). This way, Jooki can also be listened to when there is no wifi around: in the park, at the beach or in the car.
Moreover, Jooki is beautifully designed with quality and user experience first in mind. It’s a real music speaker with high-quality sound, but that has been built for children and is fully childproof.
Everyone is now aware that it is best to limit screen time for young children, but we also know how difficult it is to find a real alternative that kids will love just as much. Jooki offers a solution to replace screens each time children want to listen to music or to a story. Using the figurines, children will choose what they want to listen to without being stuck behind a screen. Kids are free again to dance, play, do all sorts of activities while listening to their favorite music.
Jooki even allows parents to promote specific without-screen moments, like listening to an audio story instead of watching a cartoon. Spotify and Deezer – now available on Jooki – both offer great content for kids, dedicated playlists for the youngest and even an impressive catalogue of audio stories in many different languages (German is very well represented). It is also always possible to upload audio stories from CDs or iTunes directly onto Jooki.
MuuseLabs will be at Showstoppers #IFA18 to show you the easiest and funniest way to play and share music, because it works with adults too!
Jooki retails at 199€ from the webshop www.jooki.rocks and on Amazon.fr, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.com, Bol.com, Brack.ch
Wednesday, May 2, 2018 — MuuseLabs, the Brussels-based Belgian startup, announced today the release of Spotify on Jooki – the smart music player for kids. The wonderful partnership of Jooki with Spotify with its millions of titles for any age gives to parents an unlimited musical choice to create the perfect playlists for their children. Children recognize the playlists in the form of cute little figurine characters.
“There is something truly magical in popping a character on Jooki to start a Spotify playlist. It plays instantly. And it’s so easy for parents to link the playlists.” explains Theodore Marescaux, CEO of MuuseLabs. “We want to make face to face communication the centre of the family again and without screens. Music is great because it sparks emotions. The partnership with Spotify brings this ambition to a whole new level.”
Jooki works with Spotify Premium and Spotify Premium for Family accounts.
All parents have to do is open the Spotify app and their Jooki is automatically recognized. They start a Spotify playlist, select Jooki in "Devices available" and – boom, the music is playing on Jooki! Parents use Jooki app to link the playlist to a character. Done. No more smartphone needed, kids can use the character figurines or tokens to trigger the Spotify playlist at any moment they like.
Spotify playlists’ available without a smartphone: kids do not need parents anymore to listen to their music.
Spotify music can finally move around the house: as portable speaker, Jooki can be taken to the bedroom, the playroom… as long as it stays connected to the WiFi.
Unlimited number of titles: all their favorite music at their fingertips, kids can have as many songs as they want on each character.
Spotify without screen: children are free to move, to dance, to play without the freezing attraction of a screen.
And as always: safe content because chosen by parents themselves, quality sound that compares with any other speaker, and remote control of the sound volume as well as of the playlists that are played.
Jooki is available online from www.jooki.rocks for 199$.
Spotify availability will be published on our website as soon as April 23rd, but we kindly ask to not publish any news related to the partnership with Spotify until May 2nd, 2018.
Thursday, May 31, 2018 — MuuseLabs, the Brussels-based consumer electronics startup, announces that Jooki – the smart speaker for independent kids - has been chosen among 217 music startups from 31 countries as one of the 5 finalists to compete in the “Experiential technology” category at MidemLab (http://www.midem.com/music-events/midemlab/) in Cannes, France on June 5 to 8.
Theo Marescaux, MuuseLabs’ CEO, will present Jooki (www.jooki.rocks), the innovative and unique music speaker for kids in the category “Experiential technology".
After the digital turn, music has been dematerialized and is now mostly accessible on streaming services through mobile phones. For adults, what a delight! For kids… not so much. Jooki gives back to children the immediate availability of music – just like a good old music tape. The high-quality portable WiFi speaker – brightly coloured and designed for kids’ hands – works with cute little characters; when popped on top of Jooki, they trigger playlists. Just like that, nothing else to do to let children enjoy music! Each character can be configured to stream a playlist from services such as Spotify, web radios or mp3s stored on the player. Parents create playlists in an eye blink and control what content is appropriate.
Midem is the leading international marketplace for the global music community, and it exists since 1966! As a very well-known and respected event in the music industry, Midem also helps startups and creative projects. MidemLab is where startups get in the spotlight to present innovative and disrupting ideas. That’s where Jooki will enchant the audience!
On June 6th, Theodore Marescaux, CEO of MuuseLabs, will present Jooki in front of a jury composed of high-profile professionals from the music industry, venture capital and media coming from all over the world. The pitching event is from 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM at the Music Lab. The winner will be announced at 5:30 PM.
Come to listen and discover how Jooki is going to change forever the way you share and listen to music with your kids!
Friday, January 5, 2018 — Everyone loves music, kids most of all. But have you ever tried to share music with kids without handing over your phone or tablet? With this in mind, MuuseLabs created Jooki: a real, high-quality music player that is designed for children.
We've all heard how too much screen time is bad for young children, that's why Jooki has no screen. Kids are free to dance, play, do all sorts of activities while listening to their favourite music.
It’s a real music player, but it’s built for kids. Children can enjoy it on their own, without any help from their parents. Each character, configured by mom or dad, is a playlist of parent-approved music. Children can easily change playlists by swapping figurines on top of Jooki.
Jooki connects to the wifi to let the parents create playlists with Jooki’s web or mobile application (Android & iOS). Each playlist is then linked to one figurine.
Jooki can play from internal storage (also in offline mode):
In wifi connected mode, Jooki plays:
Jooki is a fast-evolving product. The co-founders of MuuseLabs (the startup behind Jooki) imagine Jooki as an interactive platform that is part of the family life and drives children and parents to be creative. For example, a recording function will lead to fun possibilities of messaging and playback. But that's only the beginning!
In preview at CES 2017, Jooki has now launched in Europe with a bang and is available online in the US.
MuuseLabs, the Belgian startup behind Jooki, will be at Showstoppers #CES18 to show you the easiest and funniest way to play and share music, because it works with adults too!
Wednesday, November 22, 2017 — MuuseLabs, a Belgian startup based in Brussels, announced today the release of Jooki – their smart music speaker for kids. This innovative WiFi speaker is about to revolutionize the way parents share music with their kids.
“Today, the main way to share music with your kids is to give them your phone or to let them go on Youtube… and then what happens? You lose your phone and you see your kids disappear behind a screen; that’s why we created Jooki.”, explains Theodore Marescaux, CEO of MuuseLabs. “We want to bring back face to face communication at the center of the family again. Music is great because it sparks emotions.”
Jooki launched on Kickstarter (the crowdfunding platform) in the summer of 2016 and is still to date one of the most successful campaigns started from Belgium, with backers all around the world. It took about one year to the 3 co-founders, engineers and dads at the same time to finalise the design and bring Jooki to life. In 2017, the team grew to 7 people to give the last push and bring the creation to market for Christmas.
Jooki is launching in Belgium and in Europe and is now available for €199 on the web shop www.jooki.rocks !
Jooki is so easy to use, kids starting at 3 years old can play music on Jooki. They just have to place a character on Jooki and it works! Each character is linked to a whole playlist, not only one song. The characters fit on Jooki so well that kids can take Jooki wherever they want. Jooki can be used 8 hours straight without recharging.
“This is the product I have been looking for. The parental controls look really well designed and the rematerialisation of music is a great idea.” says Juan Bossicard, happy backer from Kickstarter.
Jooki is designed to be used by kids, but parents are in control of the content. No more random nursery rhymes found on Youtube, parents choose the songs and stories they want to share. Parents are also in control of the volume, they can adjust it directly in the app. Jooki even comes in kids safe mode, with a moderate volume setup.
But most of all, there is no screen in sight! Kids can play, move, dance, communicate with the family while Jooki is playing their favourite song.
Jooki connects to the WiFi, parents can upload music from files (MP3, AAC, etc.) or they can add a streaming service or a web radio. From Jooki’s app (mobile or web), parents can create playlists and link them to a character.
Jooki plays music everywhere. Parents can turn off the WiFi by activating the plane mode, and Jooki will still be playing – music is stored locally inside of Jooki. Kids can take Jooki to their bedroom, on the car, to the beach, to a picnic, Jooki will still be playing!
[press release EN FRANÇAIS ICI - IN HET NEDERLANDS HIER]
Tuesday, September 12, 2017 — Jooki was presented at IFA Berlin last week and encountered a great success. IHS Markit Innovation Award chose Jooki as runner-up for Personal Entertainment.
Have you ever tried to share music with kids without handing over your phone or tablet?
Music can be such a gift! With this in mind, MuuseLabs created Jooki: the first connected music player that is easy and fun to use. Place a figurine on top of Jooki, it works!
Jooki is designed to share the magic of music with the entire family. Kids get to choose their own music or stories without a distracting screen. Parents stay in control, they upload the music or stream it. Possibilities are multiple: stored playlists, playlists from iTunes, Wi-Fi streaming, Bluetooth, voice mail, voice recording, etc.
Jooki has been successfully funded on Kickstarter in August 2016. The production is now rolling and Jooki will be available online and in stores beginning of Fall 2017.
MuuseLabs, the startup behind Jooki, is based in Brussels, Belgium.
Tuesday, August 29, 2017 — Have you ever tried to share music with kids without handing over your phone or tablet? Want to try a Jooki and get more insights on how it works ?
Meet us at Showstoppers on the 31st of august in Berlin.
Music can be such a gift! With this in mind, MuuseLabs created Jooki: the first connected music player that is easy and fun to use. Place a figurine on top of Jooki, it works!
Jooki can directly stream music via WiFi from an internet radio station or from services such as Spotify or Deezer. To create a specific playlist i.e. travelling, dancing or bedtime, place a Jooki figurine on top of Jooki, use the Jooki app (mobile or web) to drag and drop files from an iTunes library or a cloud source and assign a playlist to the Jooki figurine.
To save parents from listening to the same tune for hours on end, Jooki also features a headphone jack, a Bluetooth connection for those modern headphones and has expandable storage to hold 1000+ songs for offline play. Take Jooki anywhere and listen to music from high-quality speakers at a sleepover party, on the way to school, at Grandma and Grandpa’s house or even outside in the park. Jooki has 8 hours of battery time for those hours away from home and designed to withstand daily wear and tear. Jooki is sturdy and spill proof for active kids.
Saturday, July 8, 2017 — These 8 & 9 July 2017, Jooki joins the Wallifornia Music Tech adventure at Les Ardentes festival in Liège.
Wallifornia Music Tech brings together the most inspiring personalities from the music industry and the new technologies.
]]>Wednesday, May 3, 2017 — Distree Connect's 3rd edition took place in the heart of Paris on April 24th and 25th.
This year, Distree's attendees included more than 80 of the biggest technology brands and 40 innovative start-ups.
One of the major highlights of the event was the "60 seconds To Convince" competition, in which 17 brands pitched their ideas in front of a live audience of buyers and distributors. During this competition a total of 3 prizes were handed out based on live votes from the audience.
Jooki is honored to win the prize for "Most Innovative Product" and was nominated for "Best Design".
Thursday, April 20, 2017 — Distree Connect's 3rd edition is right around the corner!
This year, Distree is expecting more than 80 of the biggest technology brands, next to 40 innovative start-ups. Jooki is proud to be present these two very exciting days.
Meet us this April 24th - 25th, 2017 in the heart of Paris at the Carrousel du Louvre.
]]>Tuesday, June 6, 2017 — Sónar, Barcelona - one of the greatest electronic music festivals in Europe - is almost here! This year's edition is taking place June 14th until June 18th.
Jooki will be presenting at Sónar +D, the event's musical congress. This international conference focusses on one theme: the relationship between creativity and technology, and the digital transformation of the cultural industries involved. Part of the conference is the Startup Garden, in which 30 selected startups are invited to present and meet music fans from all over the world.
So meet us next week at Sónar +D in Fira Montjuïc!
]]>Monday, April 10, 2017 — Want to talk IoT, human-machine interfaces and the future of voice control and AI?
Join us this April 11-12th, 2017 at the Maison de la Mutualité in Paris.
]]>Monday, March 6, 2017 — MuuseLabs' Jooki product - an award-winning, figurine-controlled WiFi speaker that enhances play and develops children’s independence and imagination, away from screens - was selected as a finalist in the Entertainment and Content Technology category for the ninth annual SXSW Accelerator competition. The accelerator is the marquee event of South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conference and Festivals (March 10-19, 2017) Startup Village®, where leading startups from around the world showcase some of the most impressive new tech innovations to a panel of hand-picked judges and a live audience. Out of the more than 500 companies who applied to present at SXSW Accelerator, MuuseLabs was selected out of 50 finalists in ten different categories.
The two-day event will be held the first weekend of SXSW Conference and Festivals, Saturday, March 11 through Sunday, March 12, on the third floor of the Downtown Austin Hilton. The pitch competition will then culminate with the SXSW Accelerator Awards Ceremony on Sunday evening, March 12, where winning startups from each category will be announced and honored. The Accelerator competition will feature finalists across the following ten categories: Augmented and Virtual Reality, Enterprise and Smart Data, Entertainment and Content, Health and Wearables, Innovative World, Payment and FinTech, Security and Privacy, Social and Culture, Sports, and Transportation.
MuuseLabs will present alongside four other companies in the Entertainment and Content Technology category on Sunday March 12 at 3.30pm.
“I believe that everyone, including all kids should be able to enjoy the freedom and joy of music,” said MuuseLabs' CEO Théodore Marescaux. “I am very excited with Jooki's selection for the SXSW Accelerator finals, it is the ideal event to showcase how we blend technology with simplicity to bring the magic of music to all.”
Jooki is a music player with a simple, intuitive user interface for all ages that works much in the same way as the Amiibo or Skylanders. Jooki is a standalone jukebox that plays from on-board storage and also a wireless speaker that streams from the phone or the cloud. For parents who worry about handing a tablet or smartphone to their child to listen to music, Jooki is screenless device encouraging kids to use their imagination to listen to music rather than look at a screen. Jooki is kid friendly and easy to use. To play music, children place a Jooki Star on top of Jooki to hear the playlist assigned to that Jooki Star.
Jooki can directly stream music via WiFi from an internet radio station or from services such as Spotify or Deezer. To create a specific playlist ie, traveling, dancing or bedtime, place a Jooki star on top of Jooki, use a laptop or the companion Jooki app to drag and drop files from an iTunes library or a cloud source and assign a playlist to the Jooki Star.
To save parents from listening to the same tune for hours on end, Jooki sports a headphone jack, a Bluetooth connection for those modern headphones and has expandable storage to hold 1000+ songs for offline play. Take Jooki anywhere and listen to music from high quality speakers at a sleepover party, on the way to school, Grandma and Grandpa’s house or even outside in the park. Jooki has 8 hours of battery time for those hours away from home and designed to withstand daily wear and tear. Jooki is sturdy and spill proof for active kids.
MuuseLabs’ mission is to make the digital world tangible. Check out Jooki and follow Jooki on Twitter and Facebook. For more information, visit www.jooki.rocks.
“SXSW Accelerator has hosted some of the most innovative startups over the eight years we’ve held our competition. These companies have gone on to capture the attention of investors and leading technology companies worldwide. 71 percent have received funding in excess of $3.1 billion, while 14 percent were acquired,” said SXSW Accelerator Event Producer Chris Valentine. “Out of the hundreds of applicants, we have identified 50 finalists to present. Everyone with SXSW Accelerator is proud to support startups that are on the forefront of solving some of today’s biggest challenges through technology.”
For more information about SXSW Accelerator and to view the complete list of finalists, visit the following site: http://www.sxsw.com/interactive/awards/accelerator.
For more pictures, visit http://press.jooki.rocks/media
For FR & NL versions of this press release, see the links below.
About MuuseLabs
MuuseLabs is a family tech and media IoT company founded in October 2014 by three geek dads, formerly with Google, Huawei and Barco. Jooki has been launched in 2016, won the ACE Creative Challenge at the Creative Business Cup in October 2016 and has been awarded Best in Family Tech at CES 2017 by GAMbIT mag. MuuseLabs is a member of the Hardware Club, the first exclusive club for hardware startups around the world. Funded by SRIB and ST'ART, MuuseLabs is also part of Start-it@KBC, the largest start-up community in Belgium, supporting innovative and scalable enterprises. The company is advised by Alan Munn, former SVP, Hasbro and former CEO, Tomy Europe.
About SXSW
SXSW dedicates itself to helping creative people achieve their goals. Founded in 1987 in Austin, Texas, SXSW is best known for its conference and festivals that celebrate the convergence of the interactive, film, and music industries. The event, an essential destination for global professionals, features sessions, showcases, screenings, exhibitions, and a variety of networking opportunities. SXSW proves that the most unexpected discoveries happen when diverse topics and people come together. SXSW 2017 will take place March 10-19, 2017.
Thursday, February 23, 2017 — Muuselabs is headed for the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. After being awarded as “Best in Family Tech” at CES 2017 in January in Las Vegas, the start-up will present the Jooki at MWC’s flourishing start-up business platform called “4 Years From Now” (4YFN).
From February 27th untill 1st of March, the future of mobile and digital technology will gather at Fira Barcelona Montjuic. Jooki will not just meet new customers. Important investors and decision-makers will be there as well, looking for real innovation and talent. Together with other selected Belgian startups, Muuselabs is joining the Startups.be delegation to meet with customers and investors and will be pitching in the European Champions session organized by the European Startup Network on Monday Feb 27th at 3pm.
“After our roadshow with Jooki at CES in Vegas, I am very much looking forward to join the Startups.be delegation and address the European innovation scene. 4YFN at MWC is looking into the future of mobile and I am very excited for MuuseLabs to join in the ecosystem” , said MuuseLabs' CEO Théodore Marescaux.
The company will join in Startups.be on the 4YFN show floor for three days of live demos of Jooki.
About Jooki
Jooki is fully standalone and plays files stored locally (sourced from CDs or iTunes) and also supports wifi Spotify streaming and Bluetooth. It uses an intuitive figurine-based interface where each figurine is a playlist. Children operate Jooki by putting “Stars” on it. These Stars are figurines and tokens, and act as physical bookmarks to digital audio. Each toy includes an NFC chip that links to a playlist, podcast or web-stream. Parents manage what their children listen to by way of an app to upload music to Jooki and link Stars to it.
Funded on Kickstarter, Jooki is a fun music player that anyone can use anywhere, anytime. It is designed to share the magic of music with the entire family, including the youngest ones.
About 4YFN
4YFN is the fastest growing digital startup event in the world! The home of the growing global tech startup community, creating lasting connections among startups, investors and corporations during the GSMA Mobile World Congress Barcelona, the world’s largest mobile industry exhibition.
In 2015, 12.000 people came to 4YFN. In 2016 GSMA Mobile World Congress Surpasses a record 100,000 visitors, and 15.000 people attended 4YFN. Later that year, 4YFN landed in the heart of Mobile World Congress Shanghai for the first time, housing the latest in startup innovations, pitching sessions, workshops and a stage for top speakers & startup competitions. This year, we expect to se 18.000-20.000 visitors in Bercelona.
Visit the website of 4YFN and the list of joining Belgian Startups can be found below.
About Muuselabs:
MuuseLabs is a family tech and media IoT company. Jooki, its first product, is an award-winning, figurine-controlled wifi speaker that enhances play and develops children’s independence and imagination, away from screens. Muuselabs will be presenting live demos of Jooki at 4YFN in Barcelona from February 27th to 1st of march. 2017.
Experience Jooki from February 27th to 1st of March 2017 at 4YFN at the Fiera Monjuic in Barcelona.
Schedule a meeting: https://calendly.com/theodore/mwc/02-27-2017
Thursday, January 12, 2017 — CES is the largest consumer electronic show in the United States. It’s the sort of place where you see the direction the industry is taking (sometimes by force), and where new technology develops. There are booths with dozens upon dozens of workers showing off all sorts of innovations, and there are booths with only two people trying to break into a highly competitive industry.
Best of CES 2017 Awards - GAMbIT Magazine
This list showcases the things that caught GAMbIT's eye at CES 2017 while we wandered the ever expansive floor(s). From apps to androids, from VR to self driving cars, these are all the 'Gambit Award Winners' for their respective categories and are all bits of tech that you are going to want to keep an eye on for in 2017 and beyond.
BEST IN FAMILY TECH - Jooki
Jooki is a music player with a simple, intuitive user interface for all ages that works much in the same way as the amiibo. Jooki is a standalone jukebox that plays from on-board storage and also a wireless speaker that streams from the phone or the cloud.
]]>Friday, January 6, 2017 — The 2017 Startup Stage will provide startups with a place to meet other entrepreneurs, investors, executives, media, as well as Techstars staff and alumni. Startup Stage also will provide entrepreneurs with the opportunity to learn:
In addition to enabling entrepreneurs by providing an opportunity to network and build business relationships at CES, the Startup Stage program will feature Techstars’ annual pitch competition. The competition gives startups the opportunity to pitch their business to a panel of iconic entrepreneurs and win prizes.
Techstars executives will be participating in a variety of panels on the Startup Stage. Jenny Fielding, managing director for Techstars IoT, will lead a panel on the Internet of Things. Cody Simms, executive director of Techstars, will participate in a panel to talk about VC fundraising. Matt Kozlov, managing director of Techstars Healthcare, in partnership with Cedars Sinai, will participate on a healthcare focused panel. Ryan Kuder, managing director, will speak about VR and robotics. Ryan Brosher, managing director for Techstars Retail, in partnership with Target, will be hosting a panel on distribution channels.
]]>Wednesday, December 28, 2016 — MuuseLabs is a family tech and media IoT company. Jooki, its first product, is an award-winning, figurine-controlled wifi speaker that enhances play and develops children’s independence and imagination, away from screens.
Jooki is fully standalone and plays files stored locally (sourced from CDs or iTunes) and also supports wifi Spotify streaming and Bluetooth. It uses an intuitive figurine-based interface where each figurine is a playlist. Children operate Jooki by putting “Stars” on it. These Stars are figurines and tokens, and act as physical bookmarks to digital audio. Each toy includes an NFC chip that links to a playlist, podcast or web-stream. Parents manage what their children listen to by way of an app to upload music to Jooki and link Stars to it.
Funded on Kickstarter, Jooki is a fun music player that anyone can use anywhere, anytime. It is designed to share the magic of music with the entire family, including the youngest ones.
The company will be presenting live demos of Jooki at CES 2017 in Las Vegas from January 5 to 8.
Experience Jooki on booth #51543 at the Eureka Park, Sands Expo, Las Vegas.
Schedule a meeting: calendly.com/theodore/ces
]]>Thursday, December 22, 2016 — In 2017, smart home no longer extends only to smart devices such as thermostats, speakers or light bulbs. Technology for the home now encompasses entire smart experiences - empowering humans during any number of daily activities or tasks from cooking to art collecting.
For CES 2017, the Design Meets Smart Home Suite will be open from January 3rd-5th at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. The suite will showcase a curated collection of products from seven companies leading the conversation about the future of the home. Join us to see the future in a suite with all the comforts of [smart] home.
The full list of exhibiting companies includes:
Tuesday, December 6, 2016 — London Unbound is the UK's most exciting innovation festival connecting brands with technology to fuel their innovation & growth. As a winner of the ACE Creative Challenge, Jooki has been invited to exhibit at this global showcase.
]]>Tuesday, November 22, 2016 — This year, MuuseLabs' project Jooki, a smart jukebox for kids, was honored to be the official representative of Belgium at the international finals of the Creative Business Cup that took place these 20 and 21 November in Copenhagen, Denmark. Quickly noticed by the jury, Jooki won the ACE Creative Challenge. ACE Creative is an ambitious initiative that aims to stimulate the growth of the ICT-driven creative industries in Europe.
Based in Brussels, Belgium - MuuseLabs is a family tech consumer electronics company. It develops Jooki - The Jukebox for Kids - a wireless speaker with an intuitive figurine-based interface where each figurine is a playlist. Jooki is fully standalone and plays files stored locally (sourced from CDs or iTunes) and also supports wifi streaming and Bluetooth.
Children operate Jooki by putting “Stars” on it. These Stars are figurines and tokens, and act as physical bookmarks to digital audio. Each toy includes an NFC chip that links to a playlist, podcast or web-stream. Parents manage what their children listen to by way of an app to upload music to Jooki and link Stars to it.
Funded on Kickstarter, Jooki is a fun music player that anyone can use anywhere, anytime. It is designed to share the magic of music with the entire family, including the youngest ones.
For the last 4 years, Belgium is a partner country of the Creative Business Cup, a prestigious international competition for creative startups that have the ambition of being distinghished internationally. The principe is simple: over sixty partner countries select their best candidate representing the creative industries in their territory. For Belgium, ST'ART, the investment fund for the cultural and creative industries fund, is the National Host, and is surrounded by experts in the guidace and funding of startups to identify the project that will be best represent the quality of the belgian creative entrepreneurship.
At this year's Creative Business Cup, Jooki has been quickly noticed by the jury and won the ACE Creative Challenge. The jury said:
"This year the ACE Creative Award goes to a company that leverages wireless technology in a way that frees children from the screen. The product is beautifully designed and taps into a growing yet vacant customer segment. The Jury is excited to see how, with an openness to explore and exploit the content opportunities the technology offers, this company will redefine how children discover music and audio content. We wish the winner success growing worldwide."
Thédore Marescaux, CEO of MuuseLabs said:
"We are honored to have represented Belgium at the CBC with Jooki this year and are thrilled with the ACE Creative prize. The Creative Business Cup is a very stimulating and challenging competition, with a very strong and knowledgeable jury. We are energized and fully focused to launch Jooki in the summer of 2017."
Thursday, November 10, 2016 — Jooki is proud to represent Belgium amongst over 60 other countries in the global finals for Creative Business Cup in November 2016. Keep your fingers crossed, that we will win this exciting competition as the world’s best creative startup. We are thrilled to take part in the global competition, as well as in the Play & Learn and ACE challenges! #CREATIVEBUSINESSCUP
Jooki - the Jukebox for Kids, will be carrying the Belgian black, yellow, red flag at the Creative Business Cup in Copenhagen on November 20 and 21. MuuseLabs, the Brussels-based startup behind Jooki is supported by the ST'ART investment fund, National Host for this event and advised by impulse.brussels. The company has been running a successful Kickstarter campaign this summer to launch Jooki and has already attracted the interest of investors.
Creative Business Cup is much more than a competition - it is a global all-year initiative supporting entrepreneurs from the creative industries in growing their business ideas as well as supporting them as contributors of creative and innovative solutions in other industries and society. Creative Business Cup empowers entrepreneurs in the creative industries, connects them to investors and global markets and strengthens their innovative capabilities to the benefit of industry and society.
Results of new research projects point in one direction – children’s main source of learning is experimental play at their own pace. That is exactly the focus of this challenge: ways of learning in new, engaging and creative manners. In whatever way you think you can contribute and inspire kids and maybe even their parents to play and learn in new ways, this is an opportunity for you to get it out in the world.
As part of Horizon 2020 (Europe’s largest research and innovation programme) ACE Creative is on the hunt to find the top 100 new and emerging creative companies in the EU and accelerate their growth and development.
Over 2 years, starting from 2015, the selected 100 SMEs (50 per year) will benefit from their very own customised support programmes delivered by ACE Creative.
The international team will then help to identify clients, investors and contacts that could help begin the process of international growth.
Jooki, un jukebox intelligent pour les enfants, portera les couleurs noir-jaune-rouge à la Creative Business Cup (CBC) de Copenhague les 20 et 21 novembre prochains. MuuseLabs, la startup Bruxelloise à l’origine du projet est soutenue par le fonds d’investissement ST’ART, National Host de cet évènement, et conseillée par Impulse.Brussels. Elle a bouclé avec succès une campagne Kickstarter cet été et déjà éveillé l’intérêt des investisseurs.
Jooki (www.jooki.rocks), le premier jukebox intelligent pour enfants, est une enceinte wifi et un lecteur de musique utilisable à partir de 3 ans. Il permet aux petits de profiter de la musique et d’histoires en offrant une alternative aux écrans. Les enfants écoutent une chanson ou un album simplement en plaçant une “Jooki Star” sur Jooki. Les Stars remplacent les CDs en jouant le rôle de playlists pour la musique. Elles ont la forme de figurines rigolotes ou de petits disques de couleur. Les parents peuvent se détendre en sachant que leurs enfants profitent de musique et d’histoires adaptées à leur âge, dans un cadre sans publicité et sans courir le risque d’aller sur un site inapproprié.
Jooki est la création de trois papas geeks qui ont quitté leurs jobs high-tech chez Google, Huawei et Barco pour démarrer MuuseLabs afin de révolutionner l'expérience de la musique des enfants au 21ème siècle. MuuseLabs est une de 25 entreprises reconnues et soutenues par l’accélérateur EuropeanPioneers à Berlin, et est un membre du Hardware Club, le premier club exclusif de startups hardware au monde. MuuseLabs fait également partie du Start-it@kbc, la plus grande communauté de startups en Belgique, qui soutient les entreprises innovantes et à forte croissance. Elle a en outre mené en Juillet 2016 une campagne à succès sur Kickstarter et a récolté 53,950 EUR en un mois.
Depuis 4 ans, la Belgique est pays partenaire de la Creative Business Cup, grande compétition internationale des startups créatives qui ambitionnent d’étendre leur notoriété et de se distinguer au niveau international. Le principe est simple : plus d’une soixantaine de pays partenaires organisent la sélection du meilleur représentant des Industries créatives de leur territoire. Pour la Belgique, ST’ART, fonds d’investissement pour les Industries culturelles et créatives, est le National Host, et s’entoure d’experts de l’accompagnement et du financement de startups pour identifier le projet qui pourra représenter au mieux la qualité de l’entrepreneuriat créatif belge.
La Creative Business Cup est une opportunité pour Jooki de séduire le marché international et de nouer des partenariats commerciaux. Quelques indices prometteurs : le projet a déjà été sélectionné par un pré-jury pour son attractivité pour des investisseurs (Investor Pitch), ainsi que pour le Play & Learn Challenge et le ACE Creative Challenge, des compétitions thématiques dans le cadre de la Cup. RDV les 20 et 21 novembre à Copenhague !
Wednesday, November 9, 2016 — Join the VRT Sandbox network of startups, researchers and media experts at Creative Circle. The fourth edition of their presentation and collaboration event. There will be talks about the next step for VR, about new workflows for television, about the reality of 4K, about enriching media, developing new business plans and... about how to bring new digitial audio media to kids, without a smartphone or a screen!
]]>Thursday, October 27, 2016 — KIKK is the intergalactic festival of digital & creative cultures. Come and get inspired!
Jooki will be live at the KIKK market. Your turn to DJ!
The KIKK market is a showcase of innovative & creative projects using new technologies, created by belgian & international startups, artists, makers or entrepreneurs. The market is a space where you’ll find demos and sales of hardware products, softwares, applications, diy projects, connected objects, etc, created for the most part using alternative ways of business development.
Tuesday, October 18, 2016 — MuuseLabs is a family tech consumer electronics company. It develops Jooki - The Jukebox for Kids - a wireless speaker with an intuitive figurine-based interface where each figurine is a playlist. Jooki is fully standalone and plays files stored locally (sourced from CDs or iTunes) and also supports wifi Spotify streaming and Bluetooth.
Children operate Jooki by putting “Stars” on it. These Stars are figurines and tokens, and act as physical bookmarks to digital audio. Each toy includes an NFC chip that links to a playlist, podcast or web-stream. Parents manage what their children listen to by way of an app to upload music to Jooki and link Stars to it.
Funded on Kickstarter, Jooki is a fun music player that anyone can use anywhere, anytime. It is designed to share the magic of music with the entire family, including the youngest ones.
The company will be presenting live demos of Jooki at CES Unveiled in Paris on October 25th 2016.
Modern kids are losing access to music
With the rise of smartphones and the disappearance of tapes and CDs, young kids have lost the ability to listen independently to music. Parents are faced with the choice of letting kids play with their phone or acting as gatekeepers to music.
I feel like a full-time DJ when I have to pull out my phone to play a song for my daughter fives times in a row. As a child, I could take a CD or cassette and play it on my own. Our jukebox for kids revives the joy and freedom that physical control over music provides.
Theodore Marescaux, Founder & CEO of MuuseLabs.
Putting kids back in control - Introducing Jooki, the jukebox for kids
Jooki is a wifi speaker and music player designed especially for children. Kids start a story, song or album simply by placing a Jooki Star onto Jooki. No smartphone or tablet required. The Jooki Stars act as bookmarks to digital media, replacing CDs and come in the form of fun figurines and colorful tokens. They are easy on little fingers and almost indestructible.
Children have a fresh, innocent view of the world. With Jooki they can independently and safely explore music and stories. The screen-free interface makes for a whole new experience. Fantastic fun, interactive and intuitive!
Theodore Marescaux, Founder & CEO of MuuseLabs.
Parental peace of mind
Jooki lets parents decide what their children can listen to. The intuitive app lets parents easily upload music and stories to Jooki. It also provides control over when and how the listening happens: parents can limit the volume, set times for waking and sleeping and make custom playlists for car trips, bedtime, cleaning up, dancing etc.
Parents can relax knowing their kids are enjoying music and stories in a safe, commercial-free environment, without the risk of ending up on an inappropriate website. Jooki is also one of the first “Internet-of-Things” devices for children that is designed to comply with the strict new EU directive on privacy and data security.
As fathers ourselves, we understand the need for a safe, hassle-free product. Our goal has been to give the best to our children and we think that all kids should be able to enjoy the freedom and joy of Jooki.
Pieter Palmers, Co-Founder of MuuseLabs.
Quality audio for kids
Jooki is kid and splash proof but unlike toy music players, Jooki has excellent audio quality. Thanks to its stylish design Jooki is equally at home in the bedroom or living room. With a rechargeable battery and storage for 1000+ songs, kids can listen at home, in the car or even outdoors.
Kickstarter campaign overfunded
MuuseLabs successfully launched Jooki, the first smart jukebox for kids, and 359 backers help overfund their Kickstater campaign (www.jooki.rocks/ks/) reaching €53,974 out of the €50,000 goal. Jooki is now available for pre-orders on www.jooki.rocks for $159 and will be available in stores by the end of 2017 for 199€ / $199.
Live demos at CES Unveiled Paris - October 25th 2016
The company will be presenting live demos of Jooki at CES Unveiled in Paris on October 25th 2016 (http://www.ces.tech/events-programs/ces-unveiled/ces-unveiled-paris). CES Unveiled is the place to see firsthand the ground-breaking innovation from French and European tech companies ahead of CES Las Vegas in January 2017.
Jooki is a creation of three geek dads who left their hi-tech jobs at Google, Huawei and Barco to start MuuseLabs. With their mix of technology and design skills and their love for music and kids, they aim to radically improve the music experience of kids in the 21st century.
With Jooki, MuuseLabs will officially represent Belgium at the international finals of the Creative Business Cup in Copenhagen, Denmark on November 20th and 21st 2016.
Tuesday, September 20, 2016 — Portable music players have had a rapid development, starting with the Sony Walkman and the Philips CD through the Apple iPod and iTunes and developing towards IoT music with Sonos, Spotify to more recently the Pebble Core that has ubiquitous music streaming.
But the technology on the children side is dramatically lagging. Since the My First Sony product line, nothing has really happened on the kids player side, while the music industry has dramatically changed. Jooki is propelling the pre-smartphone generations in the 21st century for music.
]]>Monday, September 12, 2016 — Fredo De Smedt from VRT Sandbox interviewed Theo at IBC.
IBC is one of the largest annual events for professionals engaged in the creation, management and delivery of entertainment and news content worldwide.
Monday, August 29, 2016 — Belgian start-up MuuseLabs raised over €50,000 on Kickstarter for Jooki. Jooki, the world's first smart jukebox for kids, is a wifi speaker and music player for children aged 3 years and up. It lets kids enjoy music, stories, passion and creativity without a screen in sight. Easy for kids, peace of mind for parents. The company will be demonstrating Jooki at IFA in Berlin from September 2nd to 7th.
Modern kids are losing access to music
With the rise of smartphones and the disappearance of tapes and CDs, young kids have lost the ability to listen independently to music. Parents are faced with the choice of letting kids play with their phone or acting as gatekeepers to music.
I feel like a full-time DJ when I have to pull out my phone to play a song for my daughter fives times in a row. As a child, I could take a CD or cassette and play it on my own. Our jukebox for kids revives the joy and freedom that physical control over music provides.
Theodore Marescaux, Founder & CEO of MuuseLabs.
Putting kids back in control - Introducing Jooki, the jukebox for kids
Jooki is a wifi speaker and music player designed especially for children. Kids start a story, song or album simply by placing a Jooki Star onto Jooki. No smartphone or tablet required. The Jooki Stars act as bookmarks to digital media, replacing CDs and come in the form of fun figurines and colorful tokens. They are easy on little fingers and almost indestructible.
Children have a fresh, innocent view of the world. With Jooki they can independently and safely explore music and stories. The screen-free interface makes for a whole new experience. Fantastic fun, interactive and intuitive!
Theodore Marescaux, Founder & CEO of MuuseLabs.
Parental peace of mind
Jooki lets parents decide what their children can listen to. The intuitive app lets parents easily upload music and stories to Jooki. It also provides control over when and how the listening happens: parents can limit the volume, set times for waking and sleeping and make custom playlists for car trips, bedtime, cleaning up, dancing etc.
Parents can relax knowing their kids are enjoying music and stories in a safe, commercial-free environment, without the risk of ending up on an inappropriate website. Jooki is also one of the first “Internet-of-Things” devices for children that is designed to comply with the strict new EU directive on privacy and data security.
As fathers ourselves, we understand the need for a safe, hassle-free product. Our goal has been to give the best to our children and we think that all kids should be able to enjoy the freedom and joy of Jooki.
Pieter Palmers, Co-Founder of MuuseLabs.
Quality audio for kids
Jooki is kid and splash proof but unlike toy music players, Jooki has excellent audio quality. Thanks to its stylish design Jooki is equally at home in the bedroom or living room. With a rechargeable battery and storage for 1000+ songs, kids can listen at home, in the car or even outdoors.
Kickstarter campaign overfunded
MuuseLabs successfully launched Jooki, the first smart jukebox for kids, and 359 backers help overfund their Kickstater campaign (www.jooki.rocks/ks/) reaching €53,974 out of the €50,000 goal. Jooki is now available for pre-orders on www.jooki.rocks for $159 and will be available in stores by the end of 2017 for 179€ / $199 / £149.
Live demos at IFA Berlin - Hall 11.1, booth 13
The company will be presenting live demos of Jooki at IFA in Berlin from September 2nd to 7th 2016 (Hall 11.1, booth 13). IFA is the world's leading trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances (http://b2b.ifa-berlin.com/).
Jooki is a creation of three geek dads who left their hi-tech jobs at Google, Huawei and Barco to start MuuseLabs. With their mix of technology and design skills and their love for music and kids, they aim to radically improve the music experience of kids in the 21st century.
With Jooki, MuuseLabs will officially represent Belgium at the international finals of the Creative Business Cup in Copenhagen, Denmark on November 20th and 21st 2016.
Friday, August 12, 2016 — Dear backers, you rock!
We are so happy to have you all behind us. Welcome to the Jooki family, we’ll keep you regularly updated on our progress.
Once again, a big thanks from the whole team!
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