Building better tech for kids takes a village

Since we first launched Kinzoo Messenger in 2018, our goal has been to build a successful community—not just a successful app. We’re eager to bring like-minded people together, and give them access to digital tools that help them connect with their families. And recently, we took a major step toward this goal: with our latest release, we launched Kinzoo Club, a special membership that’s available to our Kinzoo Messenger community. Membership gives you access to lots of fun extras—including sticker packs, wallpapers, face filters and games. Offering a paid membership like this is part of our plan to build a sustainable business that serves families for years to come.

A business model that supports our mission

At Kinzoo, our mission is to be the most trusted brand for incorporating technology into our children’s lives. We believe that kids deserve the best of the digital world—which includes healthy, positive platforms that are not a danger to their safety or privacy. For us, this is a long-term commitment. We want Kinzoo to serve you and your family for years to come—and in order to do that, we need to build a sustainable business. And most importantly, we need a business model that doesn’t compromise your family’s wellbeing.

There are four main ways that tech companies make money. The first will be familiar if you’ve used Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat. These platforms are free to use, and they make money by harvesting your data or showing you ads. The second way tech companies make money is when you pay upfront, like a one-time fee to download in the App or Play Store. The third way involves in-app purchases, where some features are free and others you pay for. And the fourth way tech companies make money is when you pay a recurring subscription fee.

Choosing a business model is important because it affects the way you design your app. It influences what you prioritize as a company. That’s why we’re pursuing a hybrid business model combining in-app purchases and subscriptions. Rather than making money from your data and attention, we’re offering extras that you can choose to pay for. This means that we’re focused on building features that you and your family will love, not features that manipulate you in order to keep you scrolling.

Building a future we can be proud of

Our plan is to continue offering the core features you know and love for free. Messaging, audio and video calls are important—and we believe families with young kids should have access to a platform where they can do those things with peace of mind. We’ll make every effort to ensure we can continue offering these services at no charge.

This kind of hybrid business model is inherently better for children because it doesn’t rely on their data and it isn’t at odds with their safety and privacy. But, we understand that it requires a bit of buy-in from parents and families. That means we’ll be motivated to design things that you see real value in. Because the things that connect your family, inspire their creativity and ignite their passion to learn are the most valuable of all.

Why it matters to us

The keyword in our mission is trust. It’s fundamental to building better, healthier technology for children. Being transparent about how we make money is part of building trust into our products. Because when you know Kinzoo works for you and not advertisers, it’s easier to trust that we have your best interests at heart. We want to strip away the data collection, behavioral ads and algorithmically-driven persuasive design to give you and your family only the best of technology—and that takes a whole community. We hope you’ll join us.