‘How old are you, kid?’ Meet k-ID, the latest player in parent tech

IN FOCUS

In today’s newsletter, we look at:

• Why a16z and Lightspeed bet on this Singapore parent-tech startup
• The SaaS players serving SEA’s tech ecosystem
• What it means to have two Silicon Valley insiders competing against each other in the 2024 US presidential election

Welcome to On the Rise! Delivered every Tuesday via email and through the Tech in Asia website, this free newsletter breaks down the biggest stories and trends in emerging tech. If you’re not a subscriber, get access by registering here.

Hello there!

“You’re not old enough.”

We all heard that growing up, but finding our way around age registrations was (and is still) a right of passage.

I was no exception. Since I was a tall kid, I lied to the ticket sellers at the movie theater to get tickets to all the R-rated movies for me and my friends. I knew where the unwatched cigarette vending machines were. As for the liquor store … let’s not discuss what happened there.

Today’s kids have to be far more creative, at least when it comes to media.

On streaming services, they have to find their way around parental controls. Kids, of course, still try to circumvent these filters, and their efforts have actually forced the streaming industry to up their game.

Thanks to these young would-be hackers, parents now have the ability to configure features such as autoplay and viewing history. And they have – mostly – learned to keep their personal identification number (PIN) secret – because if the little brats figure that out, they could bypass everything.

But video games are much harder to deal with, and they present a much bigger problem. A 2022 study by Boston Consulting Group found that an estimated 72% of children around the world have experienced at least one type of online threat.

Parental controls also vary from platform to platform and are often located in-game. Parents may not know where and how to look for them.

That’s why our first big story of the week is about why VC firms a16z and Lightspeed are betting on k-ID, a parent-tech startup. My colleague Glenn takes a look at how this Singapore- and US-based firm makes it easier for parents to control content inappropriate for children.

Image credit: Made by Tech in Asia using Midjourney

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