KidSafe.ME

What KidSafe.ME does

KidSafe.ME (operating as uKnowKids, legal entity uKnow.com, Inc.) was a consumer digital safety company founded in 2009 and headquartered at 1400 Key Blvd. Suite 100, Arlington, Virginia. The company built a parental intelligence service that monitored children's texts, chats, emails, YouTube activity, and social media usage for safety risks including cyberbullying, sexting, online predators, depression, suicidal ideation, and inappropriate content. The product was delivered through self-serve mobile applications on iOS and Android, with the underlying monitoring technology branded as the 'Parental Intelligence Service' and 'uKnow Mobile App.'

The business operated on a freemium-to-subscription revenue model with monthly billing, distributed exclusively through the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The go-to-market motion was product-led and self-serve, supplemented by a content marketing blog covering digital parenting topics and a social media presence anchored on Twitter under @uKnowKids. The company segmented primarily on parents and families (moms, dads, grandparents) with a secondary educator and schools segment for digital citizenship educational content. Over a 10-year operating period, uKnowKids served more than 250,000 families across 90+ countries with a small team of 11-50 employees, with no disclosed institutional venture funding beyond a non-equity Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship award. The company was bootstrapped and privately held throughout its history.

On January 3, 2020, uKnowKids announced it would cease independent operations, citing an inability to overcome headwinds from big tech platforms increasingly restricting parental monitoring capabilities. The company transferred its mission, customer base, and the uKnowKids Digital Family Resource Center to Bark, a competitor in the parental intelligence space. Bark automatically honored existing uKnowKids annual and lifetime subscription plans. The uKnowKids team, led by founder Steve Woda, indicated it would collaborate with Bark going forward. The company is no longer operating as an independent entity.

Name

KidSafe.ME

Legal name

uKnow.com, Inc.

Website

https://uknowkids.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

KidSafe.ME (uKnowKids) was a consumer digital safety company providing subscription-based parental intelligence services that monitored children's online activity across iOS and Android. Founded 2009 in Arlington, VA, it served 250,000+ families in 90+ countries before ceasing operations in January 2020.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Parental Monitoring Software

NAICS

Other Individual and Family Services (624190), Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

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

Keywords

• Parental monitoring software
• Child safety apps
• Digital parenting tools
• Family safety services
• Mobile monitoring apps

Headquarters

HQ city

Arlington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Subscription Monitoring Service: Recurring subscription-based parental intelligence service providing ongoing monitoring of children's digital activities

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

KidSafe.ME (operating as uKnowKids) sold a subscription-based parental intelligence service that used mobile applications on iOS and Android to monitor children's texts, chats, emails, YouTube activity, and social media platforms for safety issues such as cyberbullying, sexting, depression, suicidal ideation, online predators, and inappropriate content. The company also produced an educational content library on digital parenting and coached families and educators on digital citizenship, serving more than 250,000 families in over 90 countries before ceasing operations on January 3, 2020.

Product overview

KidSafe.ME operated as a single unified parental intelligence product under the uKnowKids brand. The offering consisted of a consumer-facing monitoring service designed to help parents protect children from digital dangers including bad actors, bullies, and inappropriate content. The company announced on January 3, 2020 that it would cease operations and transition its mission and existing customers to Bark, a competitor in the parental monitoring space.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• uKnowKids Parental Intelligence Service A subscription-based parental intelligence service, delivered through the uKnow Mobile App for Android and an iPhone monitoring app, that monitored children's texts, chats, emails, YouTube activity, and social media for cyberbullying, sexting, depression, suicidal ideation, online predators, and inappropriate content; the service was sold to parents and families and was supplemented by a digital parenting blog and educational content library.

Quantifiable outcome

• Helped more than 250,000 families in 90+ countries keep children safe online

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• BarkcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 January 2020Bark took over where uKnowKids left off. uKnowKids members were able to transition to Bark's award-winning parental intelligence service. Bark automatically honored annual and lifetime plans for uKnowKids members. Bark continued to support the uKnowKids Digital Family Resource Center.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Google Family Link: Free, platform-native parental control app from Google for Android and iOS. Competes directly with uKnowKids on the same use cases (app management, screen time, content restrictions) and is bundled with the OS, structurally limiting paid alternatives.
• Apple Screen Time: Free, OS-integrated parental control feature on iOS and iPadOS that limits app usage, content, and privacy settings. A platform-native incumbent that materially compresses the addressable market for paid third-party parental monitoring tools like uKnowKids.
• Norton Family (Gen Digital): Parental control offering from Gen Digital's Norton brand, providing web supervision, screen time management, and location tracking. Comparable function delivered by a much larger incumbent cybersecurity portfolio.
• ESET Parental Control: Parental control module within ESET's broader cybersecurity suite for families. Comparable as a child-safety monitoring tool, though ESET is a larger incumbent where parental controls are one product among many endpoint security offerings.
• Kaspersky Safe Kids: Parental control product within Kaspersky's consumer security portfolio, offering content filtering, screen time, and location tracking across mobile devices—competing with uKnowKids via a larger cybersecurity parent.

Direct peers

• Qustodio: Direct competitor offering cross-platform parental control and digital safety software for families, with screen time management, content filtering, and social media monitoring—closely mirroring uKnowKids' value proposition across mobile and desktop.
• Mobicip: Direct competitor offering parental control apps with screen time, app blocking, web filtering, and social media monitoring across iOS, Android, and other platforms—overlapping uKnowKids on cross-device child safety monitoring.
• Bark Technologies: Direct competitor and successor that absorbed uKnowKids' user base in January 2020. Offers a parental intelligence service monitoring texts, social media, and emails for safety concerns on iOS and Android—directly overlapping uKnowKids' product scope and target customer.
• MMGuardian: Direct competitor offering parental monitoring apps for Android and iOS focused on text and social media monitoring, cyberbullying alerts, and screen time controls—product parity with uKnowKids on the core mobile monitoring use case.
• Net Nanny: Direct competitor providing parental control software with content filtering, screen time management, and family internet safety features for parents of children—same target segment and product category as uKnowKids.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses3 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/uknowkids
• Facebookfacebook.com/uKnowKids
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/stevewoda

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

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 KidSafe.ME