k-ID Secures $45M to Simplify Child Safety Compliance for Game Developers

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For independent game developers, ensuring compliance with regulations is often an afterthought, overshadowed by the need to complete coding, design, and testing. However, compliance is not optional, especially when it comes to child safety, and the task is becoming increasingly complex as regulations evolve rapidly worldwide.

A startup called k-ID aims to streamline this compliance journey, and it has just raised $45 million in a Series A round to develop its platform that makes it easy for game developers to comply with child safety and data privacy regulations.

The funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, an existing investor, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Okta, Z Venture Capital, and existing backers Konvoy Ventures and TIRTA Ventures also participated in the round, bringing the company's total funding to $51 million.

"The challenge our technology solves – what can be done with a child once they arrive in an online world – is currently solved by lawyers and engineers manually," said k-ID's CEO and co-founder, Kieran Donovan. Donovan previously worked as a partner at law firm Latham & Watkins, where he advised tech and gaming companies for over a decade. "A huge part of that over the last few years has been supporting game publishers to build youth experience and family tools that navigate the regulatory complexity."

The fundraise comes at a critical time for the gaming industry, as more young people play online games, and developers and publishers must cater to a global audience, ensuring their games comply with regional laws.

k-ID's solution allows game developers and publishers to access its platform via APIs or, for mobile, an SDK. The platform connects to the game and helps developers quickly customize it to meet the compliance requirements of each market.

Donovan explained that k-ID's software offers single sign-on for kids, enabling a child's guardian to scan a QR code and unlock features within a game that require parental approval. It can also automatically customize which facets of a game a child can access, in line with local regulations and cultural nuances. "For parents, it's one unified console to manage and engage with all of their child's gaming," Donovan said. There's also an option that lets guardians approve or deny access to any AI content or tools that a child may come across within a game.

In addition to the Series A, k-ID also announced a partnership with ESRB for its Privacy Certified program, which will give the startup's customers a way to obtain the ESRB Privacy Certified Kids Seal.

"Today, there's probably no space more complex than the regulation that applies to kids and teens online. Whether it's chat, algorithms, content, loot boxes, or even the definition of a child (which can be as young as under seven or as old as under 21, depending on the country), there's so much to navigate," Donovan said.