【4kiz Co., Ltd.】"World's Number One Kids' SNS Platform" for Children Under 12 to Safely Express and Connect

Self-Introduction and Mission to Pioneer the Kids' Tech Domain

Hello, everyone. My name is Katsuhiro Motoyama, the representative of 4kiz Co., Ltd.

Let me start with my personal background. I was raised in a poverty-stricken family without parents. Despite the harsh environment, I self-studied my way into the University of Tokyo and later graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. After graduation, I joined the Nippon Foundation, where I spent many years as the project lead for a massive social project that established 100 educational centers for children across Japan. Alongside my work, I have authored and published 16 books on parenting and education. I am also a father of six children.

Through these extensive experiences, I have come to a firm conviction: "In this digital-native era, a safe, dedicated social platform designed specifically for children is an absolute necessity." I believe it is my life's mission to leverage my career in the child education sector to solve this problem. Our goal is to build the world's number one kids' platform—more engaging than games, more educational than schools, where children worldwide can connect safely.

Limitations of Existing SNS and the Cyberbullying Risks Faced by Children

Currently, 93% of junior high school students and 70% of upper elementary school students in Japan own their own smartphones, and this number grows every year. However, major social platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube strictly prohibit users under the age of 13 in their terms of service.

As a result, children under 12 are forced to falsify their age to use these services. Mingling in platforms designed for adults exposes them to severe risks, such as cyberbullying and grooming. While bullying in high schools is declining, cyberbullying in elementary and junior high schools is surging rapidly, and no one has been able to stop it. Toxic comments like "go die" or "gross" fly around on adult platforms, leaving children feeling isolated and anxious.

The Educational Challenge of "Lack of Output Opportunities" in the Digital Age

From an educational standpoint, children today are exposed to an overwhelming amount of passive "information input." In schools and cram schools, they primarily absorb lectures. Even when they access the internet via tablets, they spend hours passively consuming YouTube videos.

To thrive in an unpredictable future, children must learn to think critically, create something of their own, and "output" their ideas to society. However, the current internet lacks a safe, healthy space where kids can express themselves and develop their creativity.

Safety First: "4kiz" Features and Parental Control Mechanisms

To address these critical safety and educational challenges, we developed "4kiz," a dedicated social media app for children aged 15 and under.

The UI is designed to be highly intuitive, resembling TikTok or Instagram, allowing children to post short videos and photos. Most importantly, we built a robust safety system:
- NG Word Filter: Words like "die" or "go away" are blocked at the input stage and cannot be posted.
- AI Moderation: An AI system monitors uploaded images and text in real-time, preventing inappropriate content from going public.
- Parental Controls: Parents can manage settings from their own accounts, including comment permissions, pre-approval of posts, and app usage time limits.

Thanks to these thorough safeguards, we have maintained a record of "zero" bullying and "zero" cybercrimes within the app since launch.

Fostering Creativity through "Positive Comments" and Children's Growth Stories

We are proud that 4kiz is not just a safe space, but a catalyst for children's creativity.

For example, a child who loved drawing began posting digital illustrations on 4kiz, learned video editing, and eventually grew to create and post 3D VTuber models. This growth is driven by 4kiz's unique community culture. The comments exchanged among children are overwhelmingly positive, filled with praise like "Wow, so cool!" or "How did you make that?" Being praised by peers boosts their self-esteem and fuels a positive feedback loop of creativity. We also offer interest-based communities (illustrations, sports, music, etc.) where children can safely connect over shared passions.

The Massive Kidtech Advertising Market and Three Monetization Engines

Due to strict regulations, major tech giants have struggled to enter the under-13 market, leaving a massive "market vacuum." However, the digital advertising market for children is growing at a CAGR of 22% and is projected to become a $40 billion (4 trillion yen) market. We aim to capture this market.

We monetize through three primary engines:
1. Premium Subscription: A 300 yen/month plan that unlocks features like custom chat stamps. Paid users are growing steadily.
2. Corporate Co-Branding: Acting as an "online KidZania," we host kids' contests and provide opportunities for companies to co-develop products with feedback from children on our platform.
3. Targeted Advertising: The only compliant ad network that can directly target the under-13 demographic. Additionally, since parents and grandparents also use the app to monitor children, we can serve separate, highly targeted ads for adults and children.

Global Growth Strategy and The Ask for Series A

Over the past two years, user interactions (posts/comments) grew 30x, and our user base has surpassed 60,000, with over 180,000 monthly interactions.

Moving forward, we will drive organic growth via user invitations, school integrations, partnerships with extracurricular schools, and TV commercials. Our goal is to reach 10 million users in Japan and 500 million users globally, paving the way for an IPO as a unicorn company.

Having secured seed funding from prominent angel investors like Yoshino Moriya and Michihiro Otsu, we are now seeking Series A funding (The Ask) from VCs, CVCs, and strategic corporate partners to accelerate our global expansion. We invite you to join us in unlocking the unlimited potential of children.

Q&A and Feedback

Commentator (Hatenamori): At Hatena, I was involved in "Ugowaza (UgoMemo)" with Nintendo, which was a massive hand-drawn animation sharing service used by nearly 80% of elementary and junior high school students. I have long discussed why a full-scale kids' social network hadn't succeeded, so I listened to your pitch with great excitement.

I have two questions. First, public schools, PTAs, and education boards in Japan still have a strong "keep kids away from the internet" mentality. How do you plan to navigate this conservative administrative barrier? Second, how does 4kiz compete with US-based services like Zigazoo under strict global regulations like COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act)?

Katsuhiro Motoyama: Thank you for the insightful questions.

Regarding your first question on education boards, their decision-making is indeed extremely slow. To maintain momentum, our primary strategy is to focus on bottom-up adoption through individual households (B2C), establishing a proven track record of safety among parents first.

Meanwhile, under the GIGA School Initiative, 10 million elementary and junior high school students in Japan now have school-issued tablets. Advanced private schools (like Nitobe Bunka School) have already integrated 4kiz into their official devices for classroom use. We are also collaborating with local governments, such as Makinohara City, to explore city-wide school adoption. Once we secure these early successes, the conservative education boards will follow the trend. We aim to drive mass public school adoption around 2026–2027.

Regarding your second question on COPPA regulations and safety, US competitors like Zigazoo choose to completely disable comment and DM (direct message) features to avoid regulatory risks.

However, children have a natural, strong desire to converse and connect with peers via comments. While we also disable DMs due to safety risks, we keep comments open. We make this possible through our input-level NG word block, real-time AI moderation, and double-layered parental controls. Instead of stripping away features out of fear, we protect users through technology and robust operations. This approach is our core competitive advantage that will allow us to win against US competitors globally.