uKnow.com

What uKnow.com does

uKnow.com (doing business as uKnowKids) was a privately held, Arlington, Virginia-based parental intelligence company founded circa 2009-2010 by Steve Woda, inspired by a personal tragedy to apply internet security and data intelligence expertise to child online safety. The company's core product was a mobile device monitoring and parental control service designed to help parents protect children from online predators, cyberbullies, and digital threats by providing visibility into children's mobile device and online activity. Beyond technical monitoring, the company maintained a Digital Family Resource Center producing educational content on digital citizenship for families and educators. No specific AI/ML architectures, proprietary detection models, or patent portfolio are documented in available sources.

The business was structured as a direct-to-consumer, self-serve subscription offering with annual and lifetime pricing plans (exact pricing not publicly disclosed). Distribution was entirely through self-serve consumer sign-up, with no named enterprise or channel partnerships, serving more than 250,000 families across 90+ countries over its ten-year operating history. The company raised approximately $6.3M across four disclosed funding events between 2010 and 2014 from investors including Virginia Venture Partners, Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, and Middleland Capital, after which no further funding activity is documented. Headcount was reported at 11-50 employees.

On January 3, 2020, uKnowKids announced the complete shutdown of operations, citing insurmountable headwinds from major technology companies whose platform restrictions increasingly limited the feasibility of third-party parental monitoring. As part of the wind-down, the company entered a strategic transition with Bark, an award-winning parental intelligence service that agreed to honor existing uKnowKids annual and lifetime subscription plans and continue operating the Digital Family Resource Center. No further operating activity has been disclosed since the closure announcement.

Name

uKnow.com

Legal name

uKnowKids

Website

https://uKnow.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

uKnow.com (uKnowKids) was a direct-to-consumer parental intelligence platform that monitored children's mobile device and online activity to protect them from predators, bullies, and digital threats, serving over 250,000 families across 90+ countries before shutting down in January 2020.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Parental Control & Child Digital Safety Software

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (62411), Other Individual and Family Services (624190), Educational Support Services (61171)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Parental Controls, Content Filtering & Family Digital Safety for Smart Homes (HSAHAJAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Cyberbullying Prevention, Reporting & Case Management (EDAFALAG)

Keywords

• Parental control software
• Child online safety
• Mobile device monitoring
• Digital parenting tools
• Parental intelligence

Headquarters

HQ city

Arlington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

uKnowKids was a parental intelligence service that provided parents with smart tools and alerts to monitor their children's online activity and mobile device usage, helping protect kids from online predators, bullies, and other digital threats. The offering combined technical monitoring capabilities with educational content on digital citizenship through its Digital Family Resource Center, serving families in more than 90 countries.

Product overview

uKnowKids was a single unified parental intelligence product designed to help families keep children safe online and on mobile devices. The core product offered monitoring, alerts, and digital safety tools for parents. The company also maintained a Digital Family Resource Center for educational content. As of January 2020, the company announced it was discontinuing operations and transitioning users to Bark's parental intelligence service.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• uKnowKids A parental intelligence service that provided monitoring tools and alerts to help parents protect children from online predators, bullies, and other digital safety threats across mobile devices and online activity in more than 90 countries. The service was paired with educational content on digital citizenship delivered through the Digital Family Resource Center. uKnowKids ceased independent operations in January 2020 and transitioned members to Bark.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• BarkflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 January 2020Bark is taking over where uKnowKids leaves off following uKnowKids' closure announcement on January 3, 2020. uKnowKids members are transitioned to Bark's award-winning parental intelligence service. Bark automatically honors annual and lifetime plans from uKnowKids members. Bark will continue supporting the uKnowKids Digital Family Resource Center. The teams planned to work closely together to continue making the digital world safer for kids and families.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Mobicip: Direct competitor offering parental control and screen-time apps for families and schools, including content filtering and app management on iOS, Android, and computers — comparable product/customer alignment to uKnowKids.
• OurPact: Direct peer in the parental control category, providing screen-time scheduling, app blocking, and family location monitoring across iOS and Android — closely comparable in product scope and customer to uKnowKids.
• Bark: Direct competitor in the parental intelligence / child safety monitoring category. Bark is explicitly the successor that absorbed uKnowKids' user base, plans, and Digital Family Resource Center in January 2020, making it the closest functional and customer-base peer.
• Net Nanny: Long-standing direct competitor in parental control software for families, offering content filtering, screen-time management, and monitoring — directly comparable in product surface area and target customer to uKnowKids.
• Qustodio: Direct competitor offering cross-platform parental controls and screen-time management for families, now part of Aura. Overlaps with uKnowKids on device monitoring, content filtering, and direct-to-consumer family safety.

Broad incumbents

• Aura: Broader digital safety suite that acquired Qustodio, offering parental controls alongside identity theft and online security for families — overlapping with uKnowKids' family digital safety positioning but at a wider portfolio scope.
• Norton Family (Gen Digital): Broader incumbent cybersecurity suite (Norton/Gen Digital) that bundles parental controls and family safety features as part of a wider security portfolio — overlapping with uKnowKids in family digital safety but serving customers from a much larger installed base.
• Kaspersky Safe Kids: Broad incumbent cybersecurity vendor offering a dedicated parental control product covering content filtering, screen time, and location — direct product overlap with uKnowKids though distributed inside a larger security franchise.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/uKnowKids
• Facebookfacebook.com/uKnowcom
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/uknow-com-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors3 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 uKnow.com