Daxko acquires Alaris, strengthening childcare safety, compliance, and wellbeing for fitness and wellness operators

Acquisition brings Alaris' staff-to-child ratio tracking, meal program compliance, and state licensing support to nonprofit, community and recreation centers, and health club childcare programs

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Sept. 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Daxko, the leading integrated software and payments provider to the health and wellness industry, today announced the acquisition of Alaris, a childcare compliance and management software. Alaris is purpose-built for fitness and wellness operators offering childcare for camps, after-school programs, Kids Club, Child Watch, group exercise, and preschool programs.

Licensed childcare is one of the most heavily regulated services a health club, YMCA, JCC, or Boys & Girls Club offers, requiring staff to track ratios, meals, attendance, and medications, often across separate systems from the ones used to manage the rest of the facility. This acquisition brings childcare compliance and management into the same environment operators already use to run their business, regardless of which platform that is today.

"Childcare is one of the most trusted responsibilities a health club, YMCA, JCC, or Boys & Girls Club can take on, and staff deserve tools that match that responsibility," said Jeff VanDixhorn, CEO, Daxko. "Bringing the Alaris team into Daxko means our customers can spend less time on manual compliance and more time focusing on their most important priority: the safety, health, and happiness of the kids in their care."

Alaris will continue to operate as a standalone product for operators using third-party member management systems, integrated with those platforms as it is today, now backed by Daxko's product, engineering, and support teams.

For operators on a Daxko platform, the acquisition adds childcare management natively into Daxko Operations, Daxko Core, Daxko Club Automation, and Daxko FitnessForce, connecting childcare data directly with operational insights, program data, and member and donor records already in one place, without a separate system or manual data entry.

Across both paths, members and families will be able to check their children in and out, monitor meals and diaper changes, stay up to date on lessons and medications, and receive real-time updates about their child's experience.

"We built Alaris because childcare staff needed software that understood the weight and complexity of what they do every day: keeping kids safe and accounted for, balancing staff-to-child ratios, and tracking meals. This enables staff to spend more time with the kids and less time in software," said Jeremy Kelstrom, CEO, Alaris. "Joining Daxko lets us focus on what we do best — childcare management — while gaining a partner who can accelerate our product growth. Together, we can bring stronger childcare tools to more nonprofits and health businesses working hard every day to care for their members." 

By integrating Alaris childcare management with a member management solution, operators can simplify childcare operations and improve member engagement by enabling:

• Staff-to-child ratio enforcement — required by all state licensing agencies
• Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) meal and snack tracking — required for federally-funded food programs
• Meal, diaper change, and lesson plan logs — required for licensed infant/preschool programs
• State agency attendance submission — required for licensed before and afterschool programs in 35+ states
• Child security sticker printing — required by licensing in Tier 1 regulatory states (NY, PA, MA, MD, IL, CT)
• Language selection — critical for urban YMCAs with multilingual members
• Flexible, real-time parent notification of child activities

Daxko and Alaris will be at General Assembly, YMCA of the USA's annual conference in New Orleans, September 17 to 19, 2026. Visit Daxko at booths #2213 and #2315 to see the integrated childcare solution in action and speak with both teams. 

About Daxko

Daxko provides management software and integrated payments for health, fitness, and wellness organizations. Serving more than 19,000 facilities across 68 countries, Daxko supports day-to-day operations including membership management, programs, scheduling, engagement, and financial transactions. Designed to support organizations at every stage of growth, Daxko helps nonprofits, health clubs, and boutique studios operate with clarity, security, and confidence. For more information, visit www.daxko.com.

SOURCE Daxko