What started as a children’s book publishing company tackling hard topics has grown into an emerging media company and is changing up its branding.
A Kids Book About is now A Kids Company About. It has a new website, an expanding list of book titles, a growing podcast network and, as of this week, a slate of online video courses aimed at tweens and teens.
A Kids Class About is a series of videos akin to a MasterClass for kids. Experts in different areas — such as discovering your passion with Kevin Carroll or being an entrepreneur with Paige Hendrix-Buckner — are featured in two-to-seven-minute chapters for each course, said co-founder and CEO Jelani Memory.
There are five classes currently available. Each class has 10 to 20 chapters and is designed for 10- to 15-year-olds. The classes are a subscription model and are initially web-based. In the coming weeks the company will be rolling out four native apps for Apple TV, Roku, iOS and Android devices.
The video courses were shot and produced in-house by the company. The guiding principle was this: What does it mean to be a teen? How do you want adults to speak to you? What are you thinking about?
“I have a handful of teens in my home,” said Memory, who is a father six in a blended, mixed-race family. “They want to be listened to and have respect and treated like they have something to say. And they are thinking about their future.”
It was Memory’s family and his own parental experience that launched him into entrepreneurship. First with his company Circle Media, which helped families monitor screen time, then to A Kids Company About. The first book created was one he wrote himself for his children called “A Kids Book About Racism.”
“In fall 2020, I saw we are building a kids media company,” said Memory. “It’s not just books. There are more stories to tell.”
The question then became how to engineer a company to do that. Memory outlined a roadmap and structure and set about building it.
He pitched investors and earlier this year closed a $7 million Series A funding round. He has hired talent and the team is now 25 people. The company is entirely remote and has team members across the country. However, the bulk of the team is in Portland. The company has space in the Northeast location of CENTRL to offer an optional office setting for those who need it, Memory said.
The company’s Series A was led by Pendulum Holdings, a new fund out of Los Angeles from Robbie and D’Rita Robinson. Pendulum is focused on investing in founders of color and is run by a financial adviser to former President Barack Obama, according to tech news site Recode.
“We felt Pendulum would be the best partner and they have proven to be thus far,” said Memory. “We are about doing things differently — from content, team, teachers, hosts. When it came to choosing investors, to choose two Black investors to lead our round was a wonderful treat.”
Memory noted investors in the company are fully behind the mission to create content for children that matter and tackle big topics.
“This round, 93% of capital came from Black investors,” he said, which includes institutions and angel investors. “There were a handful of local investors who invested in the seed (round) that we made space for.”
Earlier this year, The company launched podcasts. It now has seven shows available. The podcasts are free and ad-supported, but the company is working on a subscription-based ad-free podcast product.
The video classes are a monthly subscription of $19.99 or $179.99 per year. Teachers are paid royalties based on minutes watched, Memory said. It’s a similar set up to the royalties paid to book authors that are based on sales.
Memory launched the company in 2019. Ahead of the societal shifts of 2020. But the events of the last year and half have positioned the company to be a leader in the space.
“It was long overdue. There are communities and places that have always been having these conversations and wanted the tools,” he said. “Kids media was begging for someone brown who had six kids in a blended family, who was abandoned by his dad to come to the table with something fresh.”
