Former Indiatimes marketing head rolls out Pikboo, a closed user group platform positioned as Facebook for kids

Sandeep Amar, the former marketing head at Indiatimes who also left mobile internet firm One97 Communications in January after a short stint, has launched Pikboo.com – a platform for developing custom-made sites for kids.

Owned by My Own Site Pvt Ltd, Pikboo is a paid, closed-user-group platform that keeps track of a kid's life on the web even as a 'Facebook like' profile is created by putting up his/her picture/s, along with hobbies, likings and more. And the process of creating a profile is a fair combination of product design, technology and manual efforts. Manual work is done at the backend by designers who work on the original pictures and match those with the look and feel of the site. On the other hand, the control panel powers the parents to edit the details and security settings on the site. The site can be accessed with an 'access key' only.

"This is kind of a paid, secure and parent-friendly 'Facebook for kids' with closed-user-group social experience. The closed user group is expected to include only relatives and close friends," said Amar, CEO and founder of Pikboo.

He also said that the firm has created processes to match product design and technology, and has filed a patent for it.

The platform is available on a subscription basis. For users in the US, it starts from $65 per year and in India, it starts from Rs 4,500 per year (over $80). Users in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore also have the option to go for photo shoots of their kids, but that will cost extra. Also, in the US, the company is talking to photo studios and photographers to launch a gold package (with the photo shoot of the child), Amar told Tehcircle.in.

The company also plans to monetise various offline services like picture printing and astrology services (this one is for parents, keen to know what the future holds for their children). It also plans to launch 'hero websites' where the company will organise camps for kids to get photographed with stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Aamir Khan and more.

"The main objective of the platform is to create memories of the child online," said Amar. Only two day after the launch, the portal claims to have 35 subscriptions – 70 per cent from India and the rest from the US and other countries. The company is looking to raise funds by October this year.

Amar quit One97 Communication in January this year just three months after joining the firm as vice-president, mobile marketing. Prior to that, he was working at Indiatimes as head of marketing.

He had joined the Times Group's internet division back in 2007 and headed the marketing unit at Times Business Solutions besides leading the marketing divisions of Simplymarry.com and Ads2book.com. In 2009, Amar was made head of marketing and audience at Indiatimes. His work experience also includes stints with Zee Telefilms, Citigroup and Hindustan Times.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)