Two months after launching in New York City, children’s activity subscription service KidPass is expanding this week into Manhattan and Brooklyn. As we reported in January, the subscription startup was founded by three tech execs to give families affordable access to children’s activities via subscription.

According to KidPass’s email announcement about the expansion, moving into Manhattan and Brooklyn is a “huge milestone.” In the past few weeks alone, more than 1,000 activities have been booked through KidPass, giving New York kids access to arts and crafts classes, language, sports and fitness, music lessons, museums, zoos and more.

Here’s how it works. For $49 a month, families get 10 activity credits to be used on kid-friendly activities offered by KidPass partners like Physique Swimming (Village East Swim Club), NY Kids Club (Long Island City), Cumbe: Center for African and Diaspora Dance, Brooklyn Doodles (The Stomping Ground), and Battery Park Montessori.

Parents go to the online calendar of activities and search by location, age, category and number of credits. Each event on the calendar lists the appropriate age for the activity, location, time and duration of the activity, number of credits needed and the number of vacant spots available. For additional details and other scheduled times for a particular activity, parents can click on View.

As a new feature, parents can now purchase additional credits for $5 at any time. Previously, members had to wait until their new credit cycle to buy extra credits. KidPass has also launched a Family Plan that offers 25 activity credits for $99 a month, a savings of 20%, and created a partnership with Chime, a babysitting service. To launch the partnership, Chime is offering a free night of babysitting to members.

The KidPass folks admit there is more work to be done to improve the website and add new activities, but it sounds like they are well on their way.

Insider Take:

We are really excited to see the innovation and creativity that subscription startups like KidPass are showing. With so many activities being booked on KidPass, there is clearly a need for such a service, and the company seems to be enjoying early success. We like that they launched a few months ago, but they are continuing to grow and evolve – tweaking the website, adding new features, expanding their service area, and adding new providers and partners.

We are particularly pleased to see the family plan. While this may be priced out of range for some, families with multiple children might benefit from such a service, especially during school breaks where parents are looking for safe, kid-friendly activities. KidPass is listening to its subscribers and adapting to meet their needs.

This is a great example of how the subscription model has supported a startup where an idea is born and developed as the company builds a subscriber base. Sure, some funding is needed to get started, but as the audience and its needs grow, so does the company’s revenue base, allowing the subscription company to further expand and grow. The subscription model has created exciting opportunities for companies like KidPass, and we look forward to hearing how KidPass uses it to grow and evolve.

~ Dana E. Neuts, Subscription Insider