parental-controls
(7)
The Watch That Had to Grow Up Before the Children Did
SoyMomo began with a stubborn question: how do you let a child call home without handing over the whole internet? A flawed first watch, a bruising trip through Chinese manufacturing and an unexpectedly timely tablet turned that question into a Chilean family-tech business.
The App That Reads Your Kid's Texts So You Don't Have To
Brian Bason built a Twitter ad-tech company, sold it, then had kids - and realized the internet he'd helped build had no adults watching the door. Bark is his answer: AI that watches for the worst so parents don't have to read everything.
The Watch That Fires Its Own Employer: How Cosmo Sells Parents a Phone-Killer for Their Kids
Russell York built a kids smartwatch that deliberately can't browse the web, can't open TikTok, and wants to be the last device parents buy before the smartphone talk. Then he sold enough of them to top Amazon's charts.
The Phone That Says No to Everything Your Kid's iPhone Says Yes To
Founded by a dad who watched his 8-year-old's friend get an iPhone, Pinwheel sells the un-smartphone: a real Android device with the addictive parts surgically removed and a parent holding the keys.
CUJO AI
CUJO AI is a network intelligence and cybersecurity company that turns raw broadband network data into actionable insights for internet and mobile operators. Founded in 2015, its cloud-native platform uses machine learning to identify and classify connected devices, block malware and phishing in real time, and deliver digital life protection, parental controls and network analytics. Delivered as software to carriers rather than as consumer hardware, CUJO AI reaches more than 60 million homes and monitors billions of connected devices for operators including Comcast, Charter, TELUS, Sky and Rogers.
Modak
Modak (Modak Makers) is a San Francisco Bay Area fintech that gives kids and teens a no-fee Visa debit card paired with a gamified money app for families. Parents fund the card, assign chores, and monitor spending from a dashboard, while kids earn in-app rewards points called Mobucks (MBX) for completing challenges, walking, and learning good money habits. Founded in 2022 by ex-GGV Capital investor Madhu Yalamarthi and backed by a $5.3M seed round, Modak positions itself as a lower-cost, rewards-driven alternative to Greenlight and GoHenry, and says it serves 30,000+ families.
Plume
Plume is a Palo Alto-based software company that turns home and small-business WiFi into a managed, self-optimizing service. Its cloud platform - delivered through internet service providers rather than direct to consumers - uses machine learning to continuously tune connectivity, secure connected devices, and layer on consumer apps like parental controls, motion-sensing, and guest access. Built on the open-source OpenSync framework, Plume powers tens of millions of locations and more than a billion connected devices worldwide for operators including Comcast, Charter, Liberty Global, and Vodafone.