The parents’ generation still knows him from “Knowledge makes Ah!”. Now “Sendung mit der Maus” presenter Ralph Caspers is joining the education startup Tuktoro.
Most people know Ralph Caspers from “Knowledge makes Ah!” or in connection with a large, orange mouse. Now the TV presenter has teamed up with a new animal sidekick. But it looks more like a cat and helps children learn math, connected to an app.
Tuktoro is a bulbous, bright figure in a purple sweater with whom children of preschool and primary school age are supposed to learn math in a playful way. Without creating pressure to perform. Learning games can be started via an app, in which, for example, dice images have to be recognized or calculation patterns have to be solved.
For Tuktoro co-founder Elisha Benner, joining is more than just a deal. Caspers is “an absolute educational legend,” he tells Gründerszene. The fact that the presenter is now supporting his startup as a business angel is fulfilling a childhood dream for him. Benner knows the presenter from his own childhood as a “Sendung mit der Maus” viewer. Caspers has presented the format since 1999.
The moderator should not become an advertising face for Tuktoro, says Elisha Benner in an interview with Gründerszene. “He will specifically support us in developing new learning content for the app.” There has already been a first meeting with Vibecoding. Caspers also invested, but a smaller, symbolic contribution, says Benner.
A TV colleague brought the two together
The two were connected by another angel at Tuktoro: Peter Krachten from the impact-centered Munich angels platform Better Ventures. He and Ralph Caspers know each other as former colleagues from WDR. Krachten was a director there.
Caspers also joins the already invested angels Patric Faßbender and Marcus Stahl, who brought Toniebox onto the market. In terms of content, it fits together well. In both cases it’s about high-tech game pieces.
No mice from the lions
The Berlin startup A2zebra is behind Tuktoro. This is already known from television: In the “Lion’s Den” there was no deal for the team in the end. The TV investors considered the targeted valuation of five million euros to be excessive. But after the performance, Benner’s Tuktoro team collected 2.5 million euros in financing.
By the way, Benner doesn’t want to determine whether the TukToro animal is actually a cat or not. The figure’s head can be replaced. Maybe one day one in the shape of a mouse will come onto the market. Caspers would certainly be happy about that.