What Fanschool does

Fanschool is a cloud-based K-12 student publishing and portfolio platform operated by Kidblog Inc., a Delaware-incorporated private company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The platform enables students aged 7-17 to publish articles, build digital portfolios, and participate in fantasy sports-style educational games (Election Challenge, March Madness, World Cup, Olympics, College Football Playoff), all under mandatory teacher or parent moderation. Architecture is privacy-first by design: the platform carries no advertising, does not sell student data, and is documented as compliant with FERPA, COPPA, and GDPR, with Google or Microsoft SSO and a Google Classroom integration.

Name

Fanschool

Legal name

Kidblog Inc.

Website

https://go.fan.school

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Fanschool is a privacy-first K-12 publishing and portfolio platform that lets students aged 7-17 publish articles, build digital portfolios, and play educational fantasy games under teacher and parent moderation.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

K-12 EdTech / Student Publishing & Digital Portfolio Platform

NAICS

Book Publishers (51313), Periodical Publishers (51312), Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Fan Communities & Subscription Content Platforms (Membership/Patronage) (BPAMAJAO)

akta.pro secondary industries

Children’s Digital & Interactive Publishing (E-books, Apps, Enhanced Content) (MPAJAFAJ), Digital Magazine & Newspaper Subscription Platforms (Paywalls, Membership) (MPAJAMAD), Fan Membership, Subscriptions & Patronage Platforms (MPACABAF), Children’s Subscription & Book Club Publishing (MPAJAFAO)

Keywords

• Student publishing platform
• Digital portfolio software
• K-12 edtech tools
• Educational engagement games
• Student blogging platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Litchfield

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Family Membership: Monthly or annual subscription for families to participate in their child's learning, moderate content, and enable safe sharing. $9.99/month or $49/year.
2. Teacher Membership: Annual subscription for individual teachers to create spaces for classes and clubs, moderate content, and access the network of learning blogs. $99/year.
3. Homeschool Membership: Subscription covering all homeschooled children in a family. $19.99/month or $99/year with 14-day free trial.
4. School/District Subscription: Volume-based pricing for schools giving all teachers access. $1,500/year for school subscription. Custom district quotes available for multiple schools.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Fanschool provides a safe, moderated digital publishing and portfolio platform for K-12 students aged 7-17, allowing them to write articles, build learner profiles that function as portfolios, and participate in real-world fantasy sports-style learning games (March Madness, College Football Playoff, Olympics, World Cup, Elections). All publishing is gated through teacher and parent moderation, with profiles private by default and no advertising or data selling.

Product overview

Fanschool is a unified K-12 student publishing and portfolio platform consisting of a core platform (Fanschool Core Platform) plus modular add-ons. The core platform provides safe student blogging, spaces for classroom/organization management, and digital portfolio profiles. Subscription tiers include Teacher Membership ($99/year), School Membership ($1,500/year), Family Membership ($49/year), and Homeschool Membership ($99/year). Game modules include Election Game, March Madness Bracket Game, College Football Playoff Bracket Game, World Cup Game, and Olympics Game. Additional features include Student Blogging Challenge (structured writing challenges), Spaces (collaborative rooms), and Mentoring Program (via Fan button). The platform is designed for 7-17 year-old students with teacher/family moderation and no advertising.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Fanschool Core Platform Safe, moderated student publishing and digital portfolio platform for K-12 students aged 7-17, enabling article publishing, profile-based portfolios, and authentic audience engagement.
• Student Blogging Challenges Structured publishing challenges that teach students about online publishing and develop digital writing skills, connecting them to authentic audiences through themed writing prompts.
• Election Game Free election prediction game where students pick winners of U.S. Congressional matchups to learn about states, with leaderboards and opportunities to publish articles on civics topics.
• March Madness Bracket Game Auto-scoring March Madness bracket game for classrooms with six rounds of NCAA Tournament play and points doubling each round (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 points).
• College Football Playoff Bracket Game Interactive College Football Playoff bracket game for classrooms, schools, and clubs where seeds 1-4 receive a first-round bye and 1-8 points are awarded per round for correct picks.
• World Cup Game Fantasy sports-style game in which students predict which World Cup countries will generate the most news, write headlines, and learn about geopolitics across 48 participating countries.
• Olympics Game Winter Olympics learning game where students predict which countries will win medals, scoring 30 points for Gold, 20 for Silver, and 10 for Bronze, with classroom prizes from Capstone Publishing.
• Mentoring Program Mentoring feature using the Fan button to match mentors with students at school, supporting student connection, achievement celebration, and engagement.

Quantifiable outcome

• Students with mentors are 52% less likely to skip school and 37% less likely to skip class
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Capstone PublishingminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCapstone Publishing provides prize packages for classroom winners of Fanschool's Olympic Challenge games, including prizes from their Minnesota-based publishing company.
• Vivacity TechminorGTM or Marketing PartnerVivacity Tech sponsors the Fanschool Election Challenge, providing prizes for student predictors and participating classrooms.
• Digital Promise - YouthMADE FestivalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDigital Promise's Youth Making, Activism, Art and Design in Education Festival invites students, educators, and organizations to host and join events showcasing youth-led work. Fanschool is a platform for student publishing during the festival.
• National Writing Project - Write OutminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAnnual two-week October celebration of writing, making, and sharing inspired by the outdoors, sponsored by National Writing Project and National Park Service. Fanschool hosts publishing with Write Out tag.
• Pulitzer Center - Fighting WordsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPulitzer Center's poetry contest invites students to explore how poetry can be an effective response to current events. Fanschool serves as publishing platform.
• National History DayminorGTM or Marketing PartnerStudents share thesis statements and receive feedback on research links. Parents and friends respond to project parts and school showcases through Fanschool.
• C-SPAN StudentCam ContestminorGTM or Marketing PartnerC-SPAN's national video documentary contest for middle and high school students. Fanschool supports student publishing around contest topics.
• Civics Renewal Network - Preamble ChallengeminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCivics curriculum challenge. Fanschool serves as publishing platform for student civics work.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Seesaw: Student-driven digital portfolio platform for K-12 with teacher moderation, family access, and school/district pricing. Directly competes with Fanschool on the same core use case: safe student publishing, authentic audience, and parent engagement.
• Book Creator: K-12 e-book publishing tool that lets students create and share digital books with teacher moderation. Closely comparable on student-publishing functionality and audience-driven portfolios.
• Padlet: Visual collaboration and posting boards used widely in K-12 classrooms for sharing student work with moderated audiences. Comparable as a moderated, audience-bearing publishing surface for student content.
• Flip (formerly Flipgrid): Microsoft-owned video discussion platform for K-12 where students record responses that teachers moderate and share with classes. Overlaps directly with Fanschool's authentic-audience student publishing and teacher moderation thesis.
• Newsela: Student publishing and current-events literacy platform with teacher tools and leveled content. Comparable in K-12 news/publishing with teacher workflow — overlaps with Fanschool's current-events games and challenge modules.
• Storybird: Student creative writing and publishing platform where kids publish stories for an authentic audience with teacher accounts. Direct overlap on moderated student writing and publishing for K-12 classrooms.

Broad incumbents

• Google Classroom: Free K-12 LMS/district standard that bundles assignment workflow, rostering, and SSO. Competes as the incumbent infrastructure against which Fanschool's teacher/school subscriptions must justify incremental spend.
• Microsoft Teams for Education: Free-to-districts collaboration platform from Microsoft with class teams, assignments, and integrated apps. Competes broadly for the same K-12 teacher IT budget as Fanschool's school subscriptions.
• Schoology: PowerSchool-owned K-12 LMS used by many districts for class workflow, assignments, and assessment. Overlaps as broad incumbent where districts centralize learning tools, against which Fanschool positions its portfolio/audience layer.
• Edmodo (legacy) / ClassDojo: ClassDojo is a widely adopted K-12 classroom and parent communication platform with safe posting and teacher moderation. Comparable broadly as a free, moderated student+family audience surface in K-12.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights8 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/fanschool
• Xx.com/FanschoolHQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/FanschoolHQ
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fanschoolhq

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fanschool