HiMama, a Toronto-based software platform built for early childhood education teachers working in pre-school and daycare programs, has raised $70 million (CAD$77.3M) in its Series B funding round led by Bain Capital Double Impact.
According to a blog post of the company, the Series B minority investment, which includes participation from existing investors Round13 Capital and BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Venture Fund, will enable HiMama to serve additional childcare centers in Canada and the U.S., fuel further investments in product development and offer a foundation for opportunistic growth by acquisition.
Founded in 2013 by Ron Spreeuwenberg and Alana Frome, HiMama provides childcare centers with tools to more efficiently manage staff, schedule classes, allow tuition billing and payments, and classroom learning activities while engaging parents to drive better educational outcomes for young children.
HiMama manages and stores communications between administrators and parents via industry standards SSL encryption technology. Additionally, the solution offers parent-centric features such as digital scrapbooks, milestone trackers, and preschool updates.
Commenting on the funding, Ron Spreeuwenberg, Co-founder and CEO of HiMama, said,
“The last twenty months have further reinforced that early childhood education is critical to life-long development and has accentuated the need for digital coordination and open lines of communication between educators and parents. Bain Capital Double Impact shares our vision to become the leading provider of software and content for early childhood education. This investment will fuel our growth and help us meaningfully increase our impact on early childhood educators, parents, and children. The funding builds on HiMama’s June 2021 acquisition of FunShine Express, to offer comprehensive curriculum and activity planning.”
HiMama is a Certified B Corporation, meeting the highest standards of transparency and accountability in using business as a means of delivering positive social change. With over 50,000 reviews and an average 4.9 rating in the Canada and US App Store, HiMama is the most reviewed and highest-rated software for childcare centers in North America.
Iain Ware, Managing Director at Bain Capital Double Impact, said,
“Ron and Alana have built HiMama with a differentiated mission to bring educators and parents together to drive better educational outcomes for children both in and out of the classroom. This approach can transform the early childhood EdTech space with holistic tools for childcare providers by addressing center management as well as quality content solutions to drive a more tailored learning experience that engages students and families. We look forward to partnering with Ron and the team to expand their suite of early childhood education solutions and broaden their reach across Canada and the U.S.”
HiMama’s products are used in over 10,000 childcare centers across Canada and the US, and their software has enabled essential communication with more than one million parents of children enrolled in care.
In 2017, HiMama had acquired Canadian software company DailyChildCareReport. The childcare software platform had raised $7.5 million (CAD $7.25M) as a part of its Series A funding round led by Round 13 capital, a Toronto-based venture firm, in April 2019.
