What Smore does

Smore (legally Fireplace, Inc.) is a cloud-based newsletter builder platform purpose-built for the K-12 education sector. Founded in Seattle in 2011 through the Techstars Accelerator program and headquartered in Washington State, the company operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of SchoolStatus following a 2022 acquisition. Its core product is a drag-and-drop editor that enables educators, schools, and districts to create accessible, multimedia newsletters with embedded videos, polls, and downloadable documents. The platform's underlying technology emphasizes accessibility (full WCAG 2.1 AA compliance achieved in September 2025), privacy (FERPA and COPPA certified), and automated translation to 130+ languages for multilingual family engagement.

The company monetizes through a tiered subscription model. Individual educators pay $99/year (Basic), $179/year (Pro with translation and branding features), or $299/year (Premium with priority support), billed annually with a 30-day free trial that does not require a credit card. Smore for Teams is the enterprise tier for schools and districts, requiring a minimum of 5 users with custom pricing, PO payment support, and features including Brand Kits, real-time collaboration, shared folders, enhanced analytics, and Mass Notification System (MNS) export. Distribution is hybrid: self-serve product-led growth for individual educators and demo-driven enterprise field sales for district-level Teams accounts. Integrated go-to-market motions include content marketing (blog, webinars, case studies, eBooks), community-led growth through education conferences, and partnerships with SchoolStatus Connect, Finalsite, Canva, and YouTube.

Smore reports adoption by over 1 million educators across 20,000+ schools and districts, with newsletters receiving more than 1 billion views annually and customers reporting a 28% average improvement in family engagement rates. Leadership includes co-founder and CEO Shlomi Atar and Chairman Gilad Avidan; the company operates with 11-50 employees. Smore primarily serves the United States and Canada, with a strategic focus on standardized district-wide communication, accessibility compliance, and inclusive multilingual outreach in K-12 education.

Name

Smore

Legal name

Fireplace, Inc.

Website

https://smore.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Smore is a K-12 education-focused newsletter builder platform serving over 1 million educators across 20,000+ schools and districts. It offers accessible, WCAG 2.1 AA-compliant drag-and-drop newsletter creation with auto-translation to 130+ languages, monetized through individual subscriptions and enterprise Teams plans, and operates as a SchoolStatus subsidiary.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Education Communication Software

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (513120), Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Literacy & Reading Intervention Technology (EDAJAMAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Newsletter Publishing Platforms (MPACAIAA)

Keywords

• Education newsletter platform
• School communication software
• Parent engagement tools
• K-12 communication
• Newsletter builder

Headquarters

HQ city

Tel Aviv

HQ country

Israel

HQ region

Middle East

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. Subscription Plans (Individual): Annual subscription plans for individual educators (Basic, Pro, Premium tiers) with varying email send limits and feature access. Billing is annual with monthly equivalent pricing starting at $8.25/month.
2. Smore for Teams: Enterprise team subscription for schools and districts with multi-user accounts, collaboration features, branded templates, and priority support. Minimum 5 users, pricing quote-based.
3. Freemium to Paid Conversion: Free tier available with limited features and 3,000 email sends during trial. Conversion to paid plans through feature upsell and expanded usage limits.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Smore is a drag-and-drop newsletter builder purpose-built for K-12 educators, schools, and districts to create accessible, multimedia-rich newsletters for parent and community communication. The platform provides WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility, auto-translation to 130+ languages, education-specific templates, performance analytics, and a Teams workspace for school and district-wide collaboration.

Product overview

Smore is a newsletter builder platform for K-12 education with a tiered product structure. The core Smore Newsletter Builder enables educators to create newsletters using a drag-and-drop editor with templates, multimedia support, and analytics. Individual plans (Basic, Pro, Premium at $99-$299/year) offer escalating features including design customization, auto-translation, and email sends. Smore for Teams is the collaborative enterprise tier for schools and districts, adding Brand Kits, shared folders, real-time collaboration, enhanced analytics, and Mass Notification System export. All plans include WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility compliance as a built-in feature.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Smore for Teams: A team collaboration plan for schools and districts that includes brand kits, real-time collaboration, shared folders, enhanced analytics, and MNS export.
• Smore Pro
• Smore Premium
• Smore Basic

Products and services

• Smore Newsletter Builder Drag-and-drop newsletter builder for individual K-12 educators (teachers, principals) to create accessible, multimedia newsletters with auto-translation to 130+ languages, performance analytics, and customizable templates. Sold via self-serve subscription tiers (Basic $99/yr, Pro $179/yr, Premium $299/yr) with a free trial.
• Smore for Teams

Quantifiable outcome

• 28% improvement in family engagement rates on average
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers20 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 capability2 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• SchoolStatus ConnectcoreTechnology or IntegrationDirect integration with SchoolStatus Connect allowing newsletters to be created and shared through the platform. Enables MNS export functionality for mass notification systems.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• ParentSquare: Unified K-12 family-engagement platform offering messaging, newsletters, alerts, and two-way communication for schools and districts. Directly competes with Smore for district communication budgets, with a broader feature surface.
• ClassTag: Parent-teacher communication platform targeting individual educators and schools with messaging, newsletters, and parent engagement features. Closely overlaps Smore's individual-educator and school-level use cases.
• Remind: K-12 messaging and communication platform for teachers, students, and families, with built-in newsletter-style announcements. Competes for the same school- and district-level communication wallet share.
• TalkingPoints: Multilingual K-12 family engagement platform offering translated messaging and communication tools for teachers and districts. Directly competes with Smore's translation-led value proposition for diverse family communities.
• Bloomz: Parent-teacher communication and engagement tool for K-12 schools, with newsletters, messaging, and event features. Serves the same individual-educator and school segments as Smore.

Broad incumbents

• Finalsite: Established K-12 communications and website platform serving schools and districts globally. Already an integration partner of Smore, but its broader website/marketing stack puts it in competition for district communications spend.
• SchoolMessenger: West (Edlio)-owned K-12 mass notification and communication platform used by districts for calls, texts, emails, and announcements. Overlaps with Smore's MNS-export and district communication workflows.
• Mailchimp: General-purpose email marketing and newsletter platform used by some SMBs and small schools. Less education-specialized than Smore, but competes for educators who choose a general newsletter tool over a vertical-specific one.
• Constant Contact: Established SMB email and newsletter platform with templated campaigns. Competes with Smore for non-vertical newsletter use cases and occasional school-organization buyers.

Emerging players

• Canva: Design platform with growing email/newsletter and AI design capabilities and an existing Canva-header integration with Smore. Increasingly a competitor for educators building newsletters and family communications directly inside Canva.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/smorepages
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/smore

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors5 records

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 Smore