Often referred to as “Zoom for kids,” Caribu is an innovative video calling app and educational platform that allows parents and grandparents to read, draw and play games with the children in their lives, from anywhere in the world. 

“We’re in the business of making global families feel like they’re in the same room when circumstances won’t allow it,” said Caribu CEO, Maxeme Tuchman.

The Florida-based company was uniquely suited to help families connect throughout the pandemic, reaching customers in more than 200 countries and territories. Cloud-based tools enable the company to share services and information around the globe. 

The Caribu Library includes books in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Chinese, German, Plains Cree, and Haitian Creole. 

To quickly react at the beginning of the pandemic, the team used Google Ads to test markets in South Korea, Japan and China as their schools were shutting down. “We launched in countries that we would have never expected because we were able to test with digital tools.”

Google Analytics also helped the team boost advertisements and gain insights into trends. 

The app grew tenfold in 2020, soon adding more than half a million users. Now, 30% of Caribu’s sales come from international customers. 

“The only reason the app was able to globally grow was because of access to a variety of [digital] platforms. Tushman added. “We never would have entered the markets we did” without Android and the Google Play Store. 

For Tuchman and her team, global markets represent immense opportunities. Small businesses like Caribu depend on digital tools and reliable data flows to continue benefiting from the global digital economy.