Family safety app Life360 receives $3.5M funding

Life360, available on Android and iOS, announces 10 million users

Family communication mobile app company Life360 announced Tuesday a $3.5 million Series A funding round, as well as a milestone of reaching 10 million users in two years. Investors in the funding included Fontinalis Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, 500 Startups, Kapor Capital, Venture51, Bullpen Capital, Social Leverage, EchoVC Partners, and others.

Founded in 2009, Life360 is based in San Francisco, with 15 employees. This funding brings Life360's total funding to $5 million.

Our modern, digital world has provided us with mobile apps for listening to music, playing games, interacting with strangers, and just about every other time-suck imaginable. But thankfully, it has also provided us with an app dedicated to a much more worthy pursuit, keeping our families safe.

Life360 is a mobile app essentially helps families stay in touch. Parents can keep tabs on their kids without having to dial them up on mobile devices, and thus run the risk of being ignored. The app also features a group chat function on a cross-platform Family Channel.

The Life360 app is available on both Android and iOS.

"With the Life360 app, Mom doesn't need to nag the kids to constantly let her know where they're going (and teens don't need to feel embarrassed in front of their friends)," said a representative from Life360 to VatorNews.

"For example, Mom can use the Life360 app to request a Check In from her teen daughter and will be able to get a location in response that displays where she currently is on an interactive map. During the East Coast earthquake earlier this year, Life360 proved valuable to thousands of families who otherwise wouldn't have known the status of their loved ones

"The funding will be used to invest in our infrastructure and expand our already strong team with great technical talent. We are also looking to continue improving the product," said the Life360 rep. "We have plans to take mobile family safety beyond just phones (although that will remain our core focus) and into the real world, i.e. vehicle tracking and home security."

Family apps are all the rage these days. As mobile devices become ever more pervasive, and as the age one generally acquires said devices gets lower, the need for kid-friendly and family-oriented apps becomes clearer to developers.

There are a slew of apps just for kids on smartphone and tablet platforms, like The Marbians, Drawing Pad, and Kids Tube, as well as those for parents like Cozi Family Organizer and Food on the Table. (I found all of these on Famigo, an online store dedicated to family-friendly apps.)

Still, I'd have to say the Life360 transcends the idea of "app as time-waster/saver" and breaks into the "essential for daily life" category.