Neo backs Daso's child-safe AI tablet with a $750K pre-seed check

Why it matters

Neo's standard uncapped residency check gives Daso time to test whether parents will pay for a restricted AI device built around creation, safety and parental visibility.

Max Forsey (@max4c_) and Tim Pietrusky (@NERDDISCO) have raised $750,000 from Neo for Daso, a children's computer designed around creative tools and an AI tutor rather than feeds, social media and an open app store.

The compelling part of the founders' pitch is the constraint. Instead of adding parental controls to a general-purpose tablet, Daso makes the browser, app store and engagement loops unavailable by design. That gives the startup a clear product thesis: children should get tools for making things and asking questions without also getting unrestricted access to software built to maximize attention.

Pietrusky disclosed the financing in a thread on X on August 7th. The announcement identifies the check as part of Neo Residency 2026, whose published terms give participating startups $750,000 through an uncapped standard SAFE. Neo also receives the right to invest enough in the startup's next equity round to reach as much as 5% ownership. That structure leaves Daso's valuation to a later financing rather than setting a price in this round.

The deal backs two former Runpod colleagues approaching the children's computing market from different sides of AI development. Forsey, Daso's CEO, previously led developer relations at Runpod and served as CTO of Sameday AI, which went through Y Combinator's winter 2023 batch. He also researched mechanistic interpretability at Brigham Young University's PCC Lab before leaving the university. Pietrusky, Daso's co-founder and CTO, is a longtime JavaScript developer and open-source contributor who worked on AI agents at Runpod.

Pietrusky's reason for joining is personal. He is a father of two daughters and framed Daso around the question of what kind of computer children will grow up using. His answer is a device that gives children tools for writing, drawing, coding, music, photography and film while stripping out the engagement systems common to consumer tablets.

A tablet with fewer exits

Daso is hardware and software, though the startup is not designing the underlying tablet from scratch. According to its product page, customers will receive a Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+, a protective case, a pencil and a cable. The device runs Android in kiosk mode, limiting children to Daso's own application and making the interface operate like a dedicated operating system.

Daso says the product will have no browser, app store, advertisements, autoplay, public social features or algorithmic feeds. Most creative functions are designed to work offline. Asking the AI questions will require an internet connection.

That architecture is Daso's central product decision. Apple and Google already give parents controls for general-purpose tablets, but those systems require adults to configure restrictions around software built for a much wider audience. Daso is selling the restriction itself: a computer whose missing browser and app store are product features rather than settings that can be changed or bypassed.

The software currently includes early versions of Music, Write, Camera and Film. Pietrusky said Daso is beginning with an "ask AI" function that the founders plan to develop into a tutor. The stated goal is to help a child turn a question into a project while avoiding the emotional relationship model used by AI companion products.

Parents will receive a weekly text summarizing what their child explored and made. Daso says parents will also be able to send instructions in plain language, such as asking the system to introduce fraction practice as a quest. The startup says adults can inspect, edit, export or delete what the AI remembers about a child, and says it will comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and will not sell children's data.

Those safeguards remain company commitments ahead of a commercial release. Daso has yet to publish its price, and its ability to deliver a useful AI tutor inside a tightly restricted device will determine whether families see it as a computer or an expensive layer on top of a Samsung tablet.

Neo is funding the first batch

Neo's residency check gives Daso enough capital to build and test the software without immediately raising a larger priced round. The program also advertises more than $450,000 in cloud and software credits for participating startups, including access to AI infrastructure and model providers. Those benefits are particularly relevant for a product that must operate an AI service while keeping hardware costs within reach of families.

Daso says its first commercial batch will ship by Christmas 2026 for children ages 6 to 12. Pricing will be announced at launch. The short schedule leaves the founders less than five months from the funding announcement to finish the software, validate its child-safety controls and turn an off-the-shelf Android tablet into a product parents will trust in their homes.