KidPass, a monthly membership program that gives parents access to a variety of kid-friendly activities across their city, has raised $5.1 million in Series A funding, the startup reported this week. Currently live in New York, the new funds will allow the service to expand to new markets including L.A., San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Chicago.
The round was led by Javelin Venture Partners, with participation from new and existing investors, including CoVenture, Y Combinator, TIA Ventures, Bionic Fund, Cocoon Ignite Ventures, and FJ Labs among others.
Jed Katz, Managing Director at Javelin, and Rachel Jarrett, President of Zola, will join KidPass’s Board of Directors as a result of this funding.
The idea for KidPass is similar to ClassPass – a subscription service for adults looking to try different fitness classes around town, like yoga, cycling, Pilates, dance, and others. Though KidPass has a similar name, the two companies are not related.
However, KidPass works a lot like ClassPass does. Customers pay one monthly fee then can try classes all over town.
KidPass co-founder Solomon Liou explains he and his fellow founders, Aaron Kaufman, Chhay Chhun, and Olivia Ballvé, decided to start the company after becoming parents themselves and became frustrated with how difficult and time-consuming it was to find great activities for their kids.
“While there were mobile apps to instantly book restaurants, doctors, and taxis on-demand, there wasn’t anything like that for kids’ activities,” says Liou. “In fact, the main way that parents discover kids classes today is still through word of mouth from talking to other parents, or using Google Search and going through page after page of results. It’s time consuming and difficult to navigate, with many businesses not even having a presence online,” he adds.
Plus, even when you found a class, many providers only took in-person registrations, or required you to book upfront payments for semester-long programs – all before you know if your child will even like the course, Liou notes.
To use KidPass today, parents choose from one…