[ibimage==30816==Medium==none==self==ibimage_align-right]
As every working parent knows, leaving a child with a caretaker is a major responsibility. Sittercity aims to make finding the right person easier, and today announced a $13 million financing round that will support its efforts to connect parents and job seekers. Investors include Bright Horizons Family Solutions, who will also serve as the partner for Sittercity’s new program SelectPlus.
This employer-sponsored initiative will provide Sittercity’s caregiver-finding services as a benefit to employees, something the company has offered since 2006 but will now be handled by Bright Horizons. The round also included returning investors Apex Venture Partners, Baird Venture Capital, I2A Funds, Point Judith Capital, Pritzker Group Venture Capital and more.
Since 2001, Sittercity has raised $30.6 million — which, along with today’s announcement brings total funding to $43.6 million — to serve anyone seeking care for pets, children and seniors. Today, however, the company is shifting its efforts to focus mostly on child care, although the other services continue to exist. This is reflected by the partnership with Bright Horizons, whose 750 centers for child care around the world demonstrate its commitment to the category.
“In partnership with Bright Horizons, we look forward to better supporting families while continuing to attract, cultivate and feature the industry’s top sitters and nannies as part of our comprehensive child care offering," said Sittercity CEO Martin Clifford in a statement. “This is an important step in helping us to provide the best child care available online.”
But simply expanding his company’s market standing isn’t enough for Clifford — he wants to remain on the cutting edge of the industry while he’s at it. As such, last week he introduced a new platform to help employees innovate and fail faster. Internally referred to as “Empire,” the platform lets employees test and modify Sittercity’s system to maximize its performance and position it to scale.
"At Sittercity, we are focused on providing the best child care available online while constantly improving the process of how parents connect with that care," said Clifford, "and our new technology platform underpins that effort. It’s not about simply supporting our current network; our new technology is designed to be completely extensible, providing a solid framework for growth.”
For Clifford, giving Sittercity team members a way to test their ideas paves a path toward innovation and iteration. Starting in January, employers will begin providing Sittercity’s services as an employee benefit exclusively through Bright Horizons, a move that will undoubtedly increase demands on the company. But by focusing internally on innovation and the evolution of Sittercity’s platform, Clifford hopes to not only stay on top of new customers but also ahead of the competition.
