This Entrepreneur Raised Over $50 Million To Build A Platform To Ensure Regulation-Compliant Gaming For Kids And Teens

Kieran Donovan’s journey is a fascinating tale of creativity, resilience, and the unexplored paths of entrepreneurship. His professional experiences have taken him across continents, from New York to London, Hong Kong, and now Singapore, where he co-founded k-ID.

In this engrossing interview, Kieran talks about the challenges he faced raising funding from US VCs since his company operated outside the country. He also relates his experiences getting VC backing for an atypical segment.

Kieran’s company, k-ID, navigates the complex regulatory landscape of kids’ and teenagers’ online privacy and has raised capital worth over $50M.

Listen to the full podcast episode and review the transcript here.

From Creative Aspirations to Law: The Early Years

Born and raised in Sydney, Kieran grew up with the picturesque image of a white picket fence and a traditional suburban lifestyle. His father was a pilot, and his mother was a teacher. From a young age, he had a natural flair for creativity–particularly writing.

Kieran recalls spending his childhood crafting stories, nurturing a passion that eventually led him to pursue creative writing in college. However, concerned about the practicality of such a career path, his parents encouraged him to combine his passion with a more “stable” profession.

So, Kieran attended law school alongside his creative writing studies, knowing he did not want to become a traditional lawyer. After completing college, he packed his bags and headed to New York, determined to make it as a writer.

Kieran remembers spending long hours in cafes, submitting scripts to agents and production companies. He was flying back and forth between LA and New York, trying to get meetings with production companies.

Kieran’s hard work paid off when one of his scripts was optioned, but like many creative dreams, it eventually hit a financial wall. Running out of money, he had to make a tough decision–return to Sydney and resume a career in law.

Reflecting on this period, Kieran acknowledges that he didn’t expect his career wouldn’t work out. Although he hadn’t planned on falling back on his legal career, it was always in his mind.

A Global Legal Career: From Sydney to Hong Kong

Kieran’s legal career quickly gained momentum. In 2010-2011, data wasn’t a big part of acquisitions as it is today. He would advise on M&As where the data component of the transaction was reviewing the website.

Determined to work on the largest and most complex deals, Kieran moved to London and joined Latham & Watkins, one of the top global law firms. He enjoyed traveling and experiencing different places. His drive and tenacity led him to Hong Kong, where he opened a new office for the firm.

Keiran describes this opportunity as his first real taste of entrepreneurship, albeit within the safety net of a large organization. “It was entrepreneurship, but with a giant safety net,” Kieran admits. He was tasked with building a new practice, taking on the challenge with an “all-or-nothing” mindset.

Kieran’s time in Hong Kong and other international experiences in places like Beijing and Shanghai gave him a unique global perspective. He embraced other cultures and languages, picking up a few on the way to figure out how to get around a new location.

Kieran reflects on how living and working in different cultures not only broadened his perspective but also sharpened his ability to see similarities across various environments. He absorbed the nuances of different markets, which would later play a crucial role in his entrepreneurial venture.

But as Kieran’s career unfolded, it became clear that he was destined for much more than the cozy familiarity of home.

Founding k-ID: Addressing a Global Problem

After 13 years as a successful attorney, living in Sydney, London, and Hong Kong, and earning a fantastic salary, Kieran made the bold decision to leave his comfortable career. He embarked on a new challenge—founding k-ID.

This decision was sparked by a growing concern about regulating kids and teens online. “I eventually felt compelled to solve a problem that I couldn’t ignore,” Kieran explains. Despite hoping someone else would tackle the issue, he repeatedly saw solutions that weren’t effective.

Having ideated the concept as an attorney in London, Kieran decided to act. He recognized that kids’ and teens’ online sites are complex and fraught with risk.

k-ID’s business model is centered around a compliance engine that simplifies the complex regulatory requirements for developers targeting an audience of children and teens globally.

Different countries define children and adults in wildly varying ways that don’t sync up. That’s because culture and social values are unique from place to place and cannot be homogenized. Navigating compliance across multiple regions is highly challenging for developer companies.

By distilling these complex regulations into a user-friendly product, k-ID makes it easier for companies to ensure they are meeting legal requirements without compromising user experience. The product is integrated so that it is totally invisible to the user.

Building a Founding Team

Kieran’s approach to building his founding team was strategic. He knew that to de-risk the vision of k-ID, he needed co-founders with diverse skill sets. Starting the venture with Timothy Ma, Kieran’s first co-founder, he soon realized they needed additional expertise.

Kieran and Tim came from similar backgrounds and needed someone with business acumen, particularly in the gaming industry. They also needed someone with deep experience in trust and safety and technical expertise.

Kieran’s philosophy was clear: “50% of nothing is nothing.” He recognized that he couldn’t execute his vision alone and needed to surround himself with people who could bring unique perspectives and expertise to the table.

That’s how Julian Corbett, who had experience on the business side, having run game publishers in APAC, came on board as a co-founder. They also brought in Jeff Wu, who had built out Trust and Safety at tech giants like Google and Meta.

Kieran recalls seeing the value his co-founders would bring personally and professionally and the contribution they were willing to make to the vision by jumping in with both feet. It made sense for them to work together to bring the vision to life.

Initially, they started building the company out of Singapore, but Kieran had experience working in New York and started to think about moving operations to the US. He recalls not intentionally wanting to raise money in the US.

The Challenges of Raising Capital Outside the U.S.

Raising capital for k-ID posed its own set of challenges, mainly because Kieran wasn’t in the U.S., the typical hub for venture-backed startups. Many investors in his part of the world prefer to back businesses that have already proven successful in other regions and are looking to expand.

Kieran knew that their pitch would have to demonstrate comparative metrics, growth, and other slides that showed it worked in Latin America and Europe. k-ID, however, was a blank canvas with a global vision, making it harder to resonate with local investors.

Though they were getting term sheets, Kieran and his team decided to pitch to U.S. investors, including prominent funds like Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z), and they found a receptive audience.

The willingness of U.S. investors to back early-stage founders with bold, global ideas was a stark contrast to the more conservative approach in Asia. Kieran reveals how most investors in other parts of the world are typically sovereign wealth funds or big pension funds.

He was aware that VCs have different risk appetites and expectations. Their focus is mainly on verticals like Fintech and crypto. Aside from a few exceptions, they don’t necessarily see early-stage global ideas. Founders start out in one country and then move internationally,

Navigating U.S. VCs and Finding the Right Fit

Kieran emphasizes the importance of being intentional when approaching US VCs. His team focused on funds that understood the gaming industry, as k-ID initially focused on the gaming vertical. They didn’t want to waste time pitching to investors not aligned with their vision.

In addition to researching the funds, Kieran also paid close attention to the backgrounds of the individual investors. He looked for people who had a personal connection to the problem k-ID was solving, particularly those with children, as the product directly impacts kids’ online experiences.

This personalized approach helped Kieran find investors who were not only financially committed but also emotionally invested in the company’s success. Kieran knew that people who had kids in school would view the product through a different lens than those with kids already in college.

Storytelling is everything that Kiernan Donovan was able to master. The key is capturing the essence of what you are doing in 15 to 20 slides. For a winning deck, take a look at the pitch deck template created by Silicon Valley legend Peter Thiel (see it here), where the most critical slides are highlighted.

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With k-ID, any child anywhere in the world can go online and get the experience that respects them for who and where they are. Explaining how k-ID works, Kieran reveals that kids going online and trying to sign up to play a game will only have access to age-appropriate content within the game.

The k-ID app serves as a portal for parental consent for their kid or teen to access specific aspects of a game. For example, parents can turn on or off approval for in-game chat for their teen.

Kieran underscores the scary component of the internet today, which carries a lot of content that is not designed for kids. This content is published without parental controls or age-adaptive features.

There are no provisions to restrict certain features or adjust them to make them more appropriate for particular age groups. As Kieran sees it, the world has forgotten that kids also use the internet.

This is the space where k-ID can be disruptive in a positive way that makes sense. The tool understands that kids will lie about their ages when using the internet and works to protect them.

In Retrospect

Looking back at their fundraising journey, Kieran remembers the existential crisis they went through during the initial 18 months. The key moment was when they signed their first contract with a customer wanting to buy the product.

Kieran also enjoyed pitching the idea and hearing people’s reactions about how no one ever built a tool like k-ID before. He feels inspired and considers it the fuel that keeps them going when grinding through 20-hour days.

Kieran advises aspiring founders to follow their guts and trust their instincts. They should back themselves and be prepared to step out of their comfort zones.

He recalls the nervousness of sitting in a room full of top VCs with the ability to deploy huge amounts of capital. Faith in himself and that he was on the right path kept him going.

Conclusion

Kieran Donovan’s entrepreneurial journey is a testament to the power of resilience, creativity, and global experience. From his early days as a creative writer in New York to building a legal career across continents, Kieran’s story is one of continually pushing boundaries and refusing to settle.

Navigating global regulations is increasingly complex, but Kieran’s unique perspective and strategic thinking have positioned k-ID to make a lasting impact.

His journey also offers valuable insights for founders looking to raise capital outside traditional startup ecosystems, emphasizing the importance of persistence, empathy, and intentionality in the entrepreneurial process.

Listen to the full podcast episode to know more, including:

• Raising capital outside the U.S. presents unique challenges but can lead to success with the right approach.
• Kieran Donovan’s journey reflects the value of persistence, adaptability, and learning from setbacks.
• Living and working in diverse regions gave Donovan empathy and a broad global perspective.
• Moving from a legal career to founding k-ID was driven by a relentless desire to solve a critical problem for kids and teens online.
• Co-founding with complementary skill sets and backgrounds was crucial for building k-ID’s success.
• U.S. investors have a higher risk tolerance, which played a significant role in the company’s fundraising success.
• Targeting the right investors and focusing on aligned verticals, like gaming, is critical in pitching to VCs.

 

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