Fundraising FoxCircle Media
AcquiredPortland, US · Founded 2013 · 5 known investors
Find your way into Circle Media
Sign up to see every warm intro you have to Circle Media
- Paths you didn't know you had: your email and LinkedIn already hold routes to the Circle Media team. We find them for you
- 2nd- and 3rd-degree connections: the friend-of-a-friend routes that take hours to manually find through your inbox or LinkedIn
- Answers now, not in days: momentum is everything in a raise. Skip asking around whether someone knows someone
Days of research, done the moment you sign in, with every route ranked by how warm it is.
Circle offers parental control software and a hardware device (Circle Home Plus) that lets parents filter internet content, block apps and websites, and manage screen time for each family member across phones, computers, gaming consoles, and smart TVs. The service targets families with children, applying age-based filter levels for kids, teens, and adults.
Also known as Circle · Circle Media Inc. · Circle Media Labs, Inc. · Circle with Disney
Founders & leadership
Board
Investors · 5
How we know: Cerity Partners Ventures's portfolio page · Not right? Tell us
How we know: press coverage · research · meetcircle.com · Not right? Tell us
How we know: press coverage · research · meetcircle.com · Not right? Tell us
Also in the syndicate · 2
Reported raises · per SEC filings
Form D private placements$24.9M disclosed across 7 of 9 rounds · 2014–2019
▶$15MraisedFeb 2019 · 6 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Ankoma MemoryExecutive Officer
- Maureen BolenExecutive Officer
- Kevin TalbotDirector
- Gwen SmithExecutive Officer
- Tiebing ZhangExecutive Officer
- Timo KisselExecutive Officer
- Darren BradyExecutive Officer
- Kenneth Lance CharlishExecutive Officer, Director
- Offering amount
- $20M
- Amount sold
- $15M
- First sale
- Feb 2019
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$8.4MraisedMay 2017 · 13 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Kenneth Lance CharlishExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter
- Ankoma MemoryExecutive Officer, Promoter
- Kevin TalbotDirector
- Tiebing ZhangExecutive Officer, Promoter
- Darren BradyExecutive Officer
- Offering amount
- $10.5M
- Amount sold
- $8.4M
- First sale
- May 2017
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware, 2013
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$100KraisedJan 2017 · 1 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Crystal Jean WileyPromoter
- Kyle David WileyPromoter
- Ankoma MemoryExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter
- Tiebing ZhangExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter
- Kenneth Lance CharlishExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter
- Darren BradyExecutive Officer
- Jason MorrowDirector
- Offering amount
- $2M
- Amount sold
- $100K
- First sale
- Jan 2017
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Nevada, 2013
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$200KraisedApr 2016 · 1 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Kenneth Lance CharlishDirector, Promoter
- Ankoma MemoryExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter
- Tiebing ZhangExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter
- Jason MorrowDirector
- Crystal Jean WileyPromoter
- Kyle David WileyPromoter
- Darren BradyExecutive Officer
- Offering amount
- $2M
- Amount sold
- $200K
- Proceeds to insiders
- $150K
- First sale
- Apr 2016
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Nevada, 2013
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$1MraisedSep 2015 · 5 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Ankoma MemoryExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter
- Kyle David WileyPromoter
- Crystal Jean WileyPromoter
- Tiebing ZhangExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter
- Kenneth Lance CharlishDirector, Promoter
- Darren BradyExecutive Officer
- Offering amount
- $1M
- Amount sold
- $1M
- First sale
- Aug 2015
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Nevada, 2013
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$60KraisedMar 2015 · 1 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Crystal Jean WileyExecutive Officer, Promoter
- Tiebing ZhangExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter
- Ankoma MemoryExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter
- Kenneth Lance CharlishDirector, Promoter
- Kyle David WileyPromoter
- Offering amount
- $250K
- Amount sold
- $60K
- First sale
- Mar 2015
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Nevada, 2013
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$169.7KraisedDec 2014 · 7 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Kyle David WileyPromoter
- Kenneth Lance CharlishDirector, Promoter
- Ankoma MemoryExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter
- Tiebing ZhangExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter
- Crystal Jean WileyExecutive Officer, Promoter
- Offering amount
- $200K
- Amount sold
- $169.7K
- Minimum investment
- $1
- First sale
- Oct 2014
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Nevada, 2013
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
Source: SEC EDGAR Form D. Amounts as filed; amended filings shown once at their latest values.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Circle Media Labs, Inc. (also referenced as Circle Media Inc. and marketed simply as Circle) develops screen time management and parental control products for families. Its offerings combine a home hardware device and mobile apps that let parents filter content, block or limit specific apps, games and websites, pause internet access, view activity reports including attempts to reach blocked destinations, and set per-family-member time limits across tablets, phones, computers, gaming consoles and connected TVs. A gaming safety feature provides 24/7 in-game voice and text monitoring for more than 200 online PC games on Windows.
The company distributed its technology through several channels: direct-to-consumer software and hardware (including the retail product Circle with Disney and Circle Home Plus), cloud services delivered via mobile carrier partners (FamilyMode, developed with T-Mobile), and embedded solutions delivered through OEM router partners such as NETGEAR, whose Nighthawk and Orbi routers offered Circle-powered parental controls. Circle products were sold at meetcircle.com, Amazon and Best Buy.
Circle was acquired by Aura, a consumer digital security company, in December 2021. Circle's website now markets Aura Parental Controls, describing the offering as powered by Circle technology, and identifies Circle as an Aura company.
Founding story
The company was founded in 2014 and shipped its first Disney-branded family screen time product in November 2015. Lance Charlish was identified as Co-Founder and CEO at the time of the 2019 Series B.
Business model
Circle sells parental control software and companion hardware to consumers, with subscription offerings (for example Circle Go), and also licenses or embeds its screen time management platform with partners — mobile carriers delivering cloud-based services and OEM router makers shipping embedded parental controls. The current site promotes a free 14-day trial of Aura Parental Controls followed by a paid subscription.
Consumer sales of hardware devices plus subscription fees for screen time management services, complemented by revenue from carrier and OEM channel partnerships.
Traction
As of its 2019 Series B announcement, Circle said it enabled hundreds of thousands of families to manage online time and content and employed more than sixty people. The current site states Circle's technology is used by hundreds of thousands of parents.
Latest developments
Circle operates as part of Aura following the December 2021 acquisition; its website directs visitors to Aura Parental Controls, promoted with a 60% discount and a 14-day free trial, and features Robert Downey Jr. as a spokesperson for Aura's family online safety effort.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Circle positioned itself as a comprehensive screen time management solution for families and has been covered by outlets including TechCrunch, Bloomberg, Forbes, The Verge, WIRED, Mashable, PCMag, NBC News and the Los Angeles Times. It was named in The Tech Tribune's 2022 Best Tech Startups in Portland list. Following the Aura acquisition, its technology underpins Aura's parental controls product.
Coverage of many device types from a single app — phones, tablets, computers, gaming consoles and connected TVs — combined with distribution through major partners (Disney, T-Mobile, NETGEAR) that embedded Circle controls into retail products and home routers.
Technology
A network- and app-level filtering platform that applies per-user policies across all connected devices in a home and, via mobile apps and carrier integrations, on devices outside the home. Capabilities include content category filtering, app and site blocking, internet pausing, time limits, activity reporting, and in-game voice and text monitoring for online PC games. The company reports cumulative blocking of 11.0 billion sites, including 176 million adult sites and 44 million malicious sites.
Go-to-market
Direct-to-consumer sales via meetcircle.com and retailers including Amazon and Best Buy; distribution through strategic partners including Disney (Circle with Disney, Circle Go), T-Mobile (FamilyMode) and NETGEAR (Circle on NETGEAR routers); consumer press coverage and educational content marketing, including a partnership with Common Sense Media and a Screen-Free Summer campaign with 1000 Hours Outside.
Parents and families with children and teenagers who want to filter online content and manage screen time across household and mobile devices.
Geography
Headquartered in Portland, Oregon (1104 NW 15th Ave, Suite 400), with a second office in Cypress, California (10805 Holder Street, Suite 210).
History
Founded in 2014, Circle introduced its first product with Disney in November 2015, followed by Circle Go in May 2016 and the Circle Connections "Smart Family" platform with six partners in March 2017. It raised a $10 million Series A in May 2017 and a $20 million Series B in February 2019, and launched Circle Home Plus in April 2019. In February 2020 Smith Micro acquired Circle's operator business, and in August 2020 Anne Bryan was announced as CEO. Circle added a Focus Time feature in January 2021 and was acquired by Aura in December 2021.
Compiled by commissioned research from 12 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 13
launches, deals, and filingsCircle was acquired in December 2021 by Aura, a provider of all-in-one digital security for consumers, with the stated aim of combining both companies' family online safety offerings.
Circle announced that Smith Micro acquired the operator (mobile carrier) business from Circle Media Labs Inc.
Circle Media Labs announced a $20 million Series B including strategic investors NETGEAR and T-Mobile US, participation from Third Kind Venture Capital and follow-on investment from Relay Ventures and other Series A participants, to expand its product portfolio across direct-to-consumer, carrier cloud and OEM router channels.
$20M source ↗
$10M source ↗
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 12
primary sources listed
- Circle Mediameetcircle.com · web
- StreamElements seeks acquisition as shutdown looms - Tubefiltertubefilter.com · web
12 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Circle Media do?
- Circle is a Portland-based maker of screen time management and parental control products, acquired by Aura in December 2021.
- Who are Circle Media's investors?
- Circle Media's investors include Cerity Partners Ventures, Relay Ventures, Third Kind Venture Capital.
- How much funding has Circle Media raised?
- Circle Media has disclosed $24.9M raised across 7 of its 9 known rounds.
- Where is Circle Media headquartered?
- Circle Media is headquartered in Portland, US.