Kids Star

What Kids Star does

Kids Star (株式会社キッズスター / KIDS STAR Inc.) is a Tokyo-based, publicly listed edutainment company founded in October 2014 by Masahiro Hirata (平田 全広), headquartered in Shibuya and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market under securities code 248A with a registered capital of JPY 914 million. The company operates a multi-product platform centered on children's social-experience learning: the flagship ごっこランド (Gokko Land) free smartphone app for children ages 2-9, the ジモトガイド (Jimoto Guide) regional guidebook product for municipalities, ごっこランドTimes media platform, ごっこランドEXPO real-world family events held at large commercial facilities, and a service design / contracted development consulting line. The Gokko Land app is built on the Unity game engine with C# programming, leveraging Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory to optimize child engagement, and integrates Google Analytics, Firebase, Unity Analytics, and Microsoft Clarity for behavioral measurement.

Kids Star monetizes primarily through B2B enterprise sponsorship: corporate brands commission bespoke educational "pavilions" (mini-game modules) within the Gokko Land app, with Kids Star funding development upfront and billing content-posting fees after release under multi-year contracts averaging 6-8 month development cycles. Secondary revenue streams include local-government subscriptions for Jimoto Guide, event monetization through Gokko Land EXPO, and professional service design fees from external clients. The consumer app is entirely free with no in-app purchases, enabling organic acquisition of 70,000-80,000 new downloads monthly. The GTM motion is dual-track: sales-led direct enterprise engagement for B2B brand and government clients, and product-led organic consumer acquisition via app stores. The exclusive one-company-per-industry sponsorship model prevents direct competitor conflicts within the app environment.

The platform has reached meaningful scale: 12.5 million+ cumulative downloads across iOS, Android, and Kindle, 300,000+ app store reviews, claimed reach of approximately 9 million households in Japan, 90+ enterprise brand sponsors and 120+ cumulative organizational customers across food & beverage (Suntory, Meiji, Kewpie, Itoham), retail/food service (Sushiro, Hotto Motto, Sugi Pharmacy, Book Off), transportation (JAL, JR East), financial services (Nippon Life, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance), manufacturing (Lion), healthcare (Rohto Pharmaceutical), automotive (Mitsubishi), and government (Hokkaido Yakumo Town). Recognition includes the 13th Kids Design Award (2021), BabyTech Award Japan 2019, Japan Child-rearing Support Award 2022, and the Reiwa 5 Child Smile Movement Award. Kids Star is led by Founder and CEO Masahiro Hirata with a board comprising executive directors Masahiro Hirata (平田 全広), Kentaro Matsumoto, Hisanori Kaneshiro, Eisuke Mizogami (溝上 達也), and three outside directors serving on the Audit and Supervisory Committee.

Name

Kids Star

Legal name

株式会社キッズスター

Website

https://kidsstar.co.jp

Company type

Public

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Kids Star is a Tokyo-based, publicly listed edutainment company operating the free ごっこランド (Gokko Land) children's role-play smartphone app, monetizing through corporate-sponsored educational "pavilions" for ages 2-9, with 90+ enterprise brand sponsors and 120+ cumulative organizational customers across Japan.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Children's Edutainment Apps

NAICS

Other Amusement and Recreation Industries (7139)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Kids & Family Curated Content Platforms (MPACAKAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Family, Kids & Education Fairs (MPAGAFAH)

Keywords

• Children's edutainment apps
• Role-play mobile games
• Family marketing platforms
• Sponsored content pavilions
• Municipal regional promotion

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Enterprise Pavilion Content Placement: Corporate brands pay fees to have branded content (pavilions) featured in the Gokko Land app. Development is free upfront; fees are charged after content release as 'content posting fees'. This is the primary B2B revenue stream.
2. Local Government Content (ジモトガイド): Municipalities pay for localized digital guidebooks (ジモトガイド) to promote regional attractions to families.
3. Service Design/Contracted Development: Kids Star offers custom app development and service design consulting leveraging their child-engagement expertise for external clients.
4. Gokko Land EXPO Real Events: Physical experiential events held at large commercial facilities, bringing the digital Gokko Land experience to real-world locations, providing another B2B engagement channel.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Kids Star develops and operates Gokko Land, a free social experience mobile app for children aged 2–9 where kids learn about real-world professions and society through interactive role-play ("ごっこ遊び") mini-games called "pavilions," each sponsored by a corporate brand or local government. Brands pay Kids Star to develop bespoke pavilion content; the app monetizes entirely through enterprise content-posting fees rather than consumer charges. Adjacent offerings include Jimoto Guide (municipal digital guidebooks), Gokko Land Times (family media), Gokko Land EXPO (real-world events), and contracted service-design/app development work for third parties.

Product overview

Kids Star operates a multi-product portfolio centered on 'nurturing and supporting children's passions,' built around a flagship mobile app supplemented by media, real-world events, and professional services. The core product, ごっこランド, is a free child-ages-2–9 educational role-play app with 90+ corporate-sponsored pavilions enabling children to experience real-world professions through interactive games. Adjacent offerings include ジモトガイド (a child-perspective regional guidebook for municipalities), ごっこランドTimes (a family media platform), and ごっこランドEXPO (a physical edutainment event series replicating the app's world). The portfolio is unified by the 'ごっこ遊び' (role-play) concept — children learn through play — and serves both corporate clients seeking family marketing channels and local governments seeking regional promotion.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ごっこランド (Gokko Land): A free children's social experience app where children aged 2–9 learn about society and real-world professions through interactive role-play games. Features pavilions sponsored by corporations and organizations representing over 90 companies across food, retail, financial, service, and social industry sectors.
• ジモトガイド (Jimoto Guide)
• ごっこランドTimes
• ごっこランドEXPO
• ごっこランド (うごっこランド)

Products and services

• Gokko Land (ごっこランド) A free mobile social experience app for children aged 2–9 built on the Unity/C# engine, where children engage in interactive "ごっこ遊び" (role-play) simulations to learn about society and real-world professions. Includes 90+ enterprise-sponsored "pavilions" across food, retail, financial, manufacturing, and service industries, available on Android, iOS, and Kindle.
• Jimoto Guide (ジモトガイド) A digital guidebook platform curated from a child's perspective showcasing the attractions of Japanese municipalities and regions, delivered as a browsable video-book format for families to enjoy together, used by local governments as a regional revitalization and promotion tool.
• Gokko Land Times (ごっこランドTimes) A family media platform delivering child-focused content organized by category (toys, games, goods, ideas, entertainment, outings, campaigns, trivia, parenting tips), updated regularly with timely information curated from a child's entertainment perspective for parent-child discovery.
• Gokko Land EXPO (ごっこランドEXPO) A physical edutainment event that brings the Gokko Land experience to large commercial facilities nationwide, combining education and entertainment to let families and children learn about social systems through hands-on, role-play-based experiences in real-world venues.
• Service Design / Contracted Development (サービスデザイン・受託開発) Custom app development and service-design consulting for companies and organizations seeking to build child-friendly digital experiences, leveraging Kids Star's engagement-driven content development expertise to help clients activate their content assets through end-to-end digital solutions.

Quantifiable outcome

• 90%+ brand awareness rate achieved by participating brand (おやつカンパニー)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers17 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability1 record

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• 明治ホールディングスcoreGTM or Marketing Partner明治 has created a pavilion featuring their 'メイジ・カカオ・サポート' (Meiji Cacao Support) program, allowing children to learn about sustainable cacao sourcing through interactive gameplay. This represents a CSR-focused branded content partnership.
• サントリーホールディングスcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerSuntory sponsors the 'チキュウセイバー リサイクルだいさくせん！' pavilion teaching children about PET bottle recycling and the bottle-to-bottle circular economy process.
• 日本航空 (JAL)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerJAL provides aviation-themed educational content allowing children to experience pilot, flight attendant, and airport staff roles, showcasing career opportunities in aviation.
• 東日本旅客鉄道 (JR東日本)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerJR East sponsors content teaching children about railway operations, train systems, and transportation infrastructure.
• ライオンcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerLion Corporation provides content about daily goods manufacturing, helping children understand how household products are made.
• 株式会社こどもりびんぐminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-host webinar partnership with the publisher of parenting magazines 'あんふぁん' and 'ぎゅって', combining Kids Star's app expertise with their family media reach for joint marketing webinars.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Lingokids: Educational app for kids 2-8 featuring play-based learning with brand-integrated content. Comparable to Kids Star's Gokko Land as a kids' educational app that incorporates brand partners and corporate sponsorships into learning experiences.
• Pok Pok: Maker of Pok Pok and Tinybop's children's educational apps focused on open-ended play and creativity. Comparable to Kids Star in the kids' educational app category with similar target audience (ages 2-9) and play-based learning philosophy.
• Sago Mini: Children's app studio creating imaginative play experiences for preschoolers. Comparable to Kids Star as a developer of educational play apps targeting the same age demographic with similar design philosophy around child-led exploration.
• Toca Boca: Swedish children's app developer creating digital play experiences for kids. Comparable to Kids Star's Gokko Land as a creator of open-ended educational play apps for young children, though Toca Boca monetizes via paid apps rather than brand sponsorship.

Broad incumbents

• LEGO Group: Global toy and educational play company with branded content experiences and digital extensions. Comparable to Kids Star as a creator of branded play-based experiences for children, though LEGO's model centers on physical toys with digital as a complement.
• NHK Educational (E-tele): Japan's public broadcaster educational channel targeting children. Comparable to Kids Star as a Japan-based provider of educational content for children, though NHK Educational operates as a public broadcaster rather than a commercial app platform.
• YouTube Kids: Google's children-focused video platform. Comparable to Kids Star as a major digital content platform for children, though YouTube Kids monetizes via advertising rather than branded educational pavilions and serves a much broader content mix.
• Gakken Holdings: Japanese educational publisher and children's content producer with magazines, books, and digital learning materials. Comparable to Kids Star as a Japan-based children's educational content business, though Gakken operates primarily through publishing and retail channels rather than mobile brand sponsorships.
• Benesse Corporation: Major Japanese education and child-rearing services company (including the Shinken Zemi brand). Comparable to Kids Star as a Japanese incumbent in the children/education space, though Benesse's business model centers on correspondence education rather than brand-sponsored edutainment apps.

Emerging players

• Khan Academy Kids: Free educational app for children ages 2-8 from the Khan Academy nonprofit. Comparable to Kids Star as a free, high-quality educational app for young children, though funded by philanthropy rather than brand sponsorship.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/KidsStarInc
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCYqDdLvR3TbXo_e3K-6vOyg
• Instagraminstagram.com/gokkoland_official

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Kids Star