Martin Larre

Montevideo (URY)
Role(s):
Founder/Owner/Principal

Kidbox

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Location: Montevideo
Industry: Internet
Year Founded: 2010
Number Employees: 1-10 people
Business Stage: Growth (not profitable)
Entity Type: Incorporated Outside United States
Description: The Internet industry is growing globally. Its penetration rate in Latin America is increasing at an annual rate of 23%, with more and more homes in the region having access to it. Parents know that the Internet is a tool that can help their children at an early age to learn and have fun in a healthy way. However, only a small portion of them have the time, dedication, knowledge and ability to select from the web the appropriate content for them. Furthermore, their fear of exposing their children to inappropriate content or people has led them to establish limits that end up hurting their children's experience in the use of the Web. This creates a demand for a solution that maximizes the experience of their children on the Internet, preventing the exposure to inappropriate content. The Spanish and Portuguese-speaking families market with this demand is not currently being attended by any player. Kidbox develops a web service aimed at Spanish and Portuguese-speaking children ages 2 to 8, which will, through a team of specialists (psychologists, teachers, parents), select, classify and offer already existing online content (websites, videos and online games) which will be tailored according to the child’s profile (age, gender, interests and needs) but at the same time will prevent them from being exposed to inappropriate content or people. Parents will have the information and the control they did not have before, through the access to activity reports of the child and the easy configuration of options that allow them to set limits of content (white list) and navigation (time limit, hours of use, etc.). Due to its scalable interface, younger children can use Kidbox in a full visual way; as they grow up and acquire reading skills Kidbox will offer a more complete graphic user interface with new functionalities. Kidbox’s target market is defines as all the Spanish-speaking families with at least one kid between 2 and 8 years old with Internet connection at home. To quantify the market, Kidbox focuses in 14 countries: Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Spain, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Cost Rica, Panama and Brasil. This results in a target market of 16.5 millions of families which constitute a market of USD 576 million annually. A possible exit strategy is the acquisition of our company by an international company interested in entering the children product’s industry in the Spanish-speaking market, such as Disney, Schoolastic, Discovery, Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon. The founders: Martín Larre Maldonado, 32, a lawyer with postgraduate studies in Marketing and Postgraduate Course in Tic´s, will co-direct Kidbox. With experience in e-learning projects in U.S. companies working for clients such as IDB, World Bank, among others. In Uruguay has worked for more than four years in (URL removed), where he was Head of Special Projects for children, with extensive experience in product development for Spanish and Portuguese speaking children between 2-12 years. More than 5,000,000 children's educational products produced in his charge were sold in various Latin American countries, marketed through major newspapers and brands in each country. In 2009, he provided consulting services to companies like Disney, Discovery Kids, Schoolastic and OLPC project in Uruguay. Martin will be responsible for the content development, marketing and sales of Kidbox products. He is the Director of TEDxMontevideo. Alan Kind, 30, a Systems Engineer from the State university, will co-director KidBox. Through his experience as a professor in college and in IBM (2004:2006) he deepened his knowledge of web development, which was also complemented with individual social projects. To enrich his profile, Alan joined the sales team of the British leader firm Man Investments. Showing great resiliency, Alan developed in key areas such as management, marketing, sales, etc. and passed the CFA level 1 exam. Alan will be responsible for the technical development, financials and sales of Kidbox products.