Helping HiMama empower early childhood educators and parents with tools to improve educational outcomes for children between the ages of zero to five, this past week we announced a Series B fundraise of $70M Canadian.
Our Series B will give us the resources we need to serve additional childcare centers in Canada and the U.S. and fuel an innovation strategy designed for impact.
Founded in Toronto in 2013 by CEO Ron Spreeuwenberg and CTO Alana Frome, HiMama is now the number one rated and reviewed childcare software, with our products being adopted and adored by over 10,000 childcare centers across North America.
Below, Ron and Alana give us some background on the company’s roots and share their vision for the future of HiMama in 2022 and beyond.
What inspired you to initially launch HiMama in 2013?
Alana: We launched HiMama in 2013 with the goal of giving early childhood educators affordable tools that would empower them to improve developmental outcomes for the children they work with and educate parents about the importance of their work.
Our initial inspiration really came from talking to early childhood educators and parents with young children. We came to appreciate the lack of resources and understanding of early childhood education that educators live with on a daily basis. Early childhood educators are overlooked and underappreciated in North America, even though what they do is crucial to the future of our society.
Why did you decide to raise money now?
Ron: It’s always been a struggle to deliver quality early education, but now it’s a whole new world.
The experience of the pandemic really exposed that a thriving early childhood education sector is critical to the health and well-being of kids and their families, not to mention the economy. And yet, the fallout from the pandemic has also made the job of educators more challenging than ever. The time is now for all of us to do better in supporting them.
We see our investment as a way to fuel our innovation and growth so we can have a meaningful impact on educators, which in turn improves the lives of children and parents, as well as supports a thriving economy.
Who did you raise the money from and what were you looking for in an investor?
Ron: The funding was led by Bain Capital Double Impact— Bain’s social impact investment fund. When we were looking for an investor, we really wanted to bring someone in who aligned with our vision to become the leading provider for software and content for early childhood educators, while understanding our roots as a mission-driven company. While we’re absolutely driven by growth here at HiMama, our social purpose is at the heart of everything we do.
Bain Capital Double Impact was absolutely the perfect partner because we are aligned in our belief in social impact at scale. The raise also included participation from existing investors Round13 Capital and BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Venture Fund.
What does innovation and growth look like for HiMama?
Alana: Our innovation strategy is really exciting. We have a few projects in the works that will allow us to support frontline educators in new ways, and provide tools for the administrators who want to help them grow in their careers.
The other thing I see when I look at our roadmap for the next year is that there’s an obvious common thread uniting our teams, in that they’re all working from different angles on ways to help centers improve the quality of education they deliver.
Ron: We also plan to extend HiMama’s impact to as many North American child care centers as possible over the next few years, which means that we’ll be expanding our team significantly to support that growth. Building a world-class team from talented, impact-driven individuals — folks who are as serious about our mission as we are — is without a doubt how we win.
What are you most excited to do now that word is out on the funding?
Alana: I am the most excited about supporting our users better! Educators, administrators, and parents… we’ve got a LOT of exciting work to do to give them better support.
I am also super pumped to grow the company with people who are motivated by making a social impact. We are looking to hire 100+ people across the organization in the next year… bringing in people who are as excited as I am by the impact we’re making is what’s going to be the driving force to propel us in driving meaningful outcomes.
Want to join our growing team? Check out our open positions on our Careers Page!
