WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Care.com (NYSE: CRCM), the world’s largest online marketplace for finding and managing family care, announced today that it has acquired three Bay Area-based companies to enhance its suite of product offerings: Town + Country, the premier household staffing agency in the market; Galore, a leading marketplace to book classes and after-school kids’ activities; and Trusted, an innovative on-demand caregiving app.
In making the announcement, Sheila Lirio Marcelo, Care.com Founder, Chairwoman and CEO, said, “Our mission has always been to leverage technology to help families find the care solutions that fit their needs and to provide the best options and support for our corporate clients and care businesses. Each of these acquisitions builds on that promise, while improving our user experience and adding great talent to our team.”
Town + Country, launched in 1985 and under the leadership of Carrie and Jens Hillen since 2008, is the premier household staffing agency in the San Francisco Bay Area. It provides permanent and temporary household staffing, as well as backup care for families employed by corporate clients serviced by Care@Work, the enterprise solution of Care.com.
Ms. Marcelo said, “As demand grows for our Care@Work product offerings, particularly backup care, we are committed to ensuring that we fulfill the needs of our clients and provide them with a range of high quality care solutions for their employees. Town + Country has been our long-time agency partner for backup care in the Bay Area and we are excited to make them part of the Care.com family.”
Ms. Hillen said, “We’ve had a long and productive relationship with Care.com and have been thrilled to see the growing demand for backup care as Care@Work has expanded its client roster. Working together, we believe we can fully leverage the expertise of both companies to further accelerate growth.”
Galore was founded in 2015 by Jeff Levinsohn and Max Haines-Stiles and will soon be rebranded as Care.com Explore. The service enables parents to book an array of activities for children, including after-school classes and programs, camps and events. Through the platform parents are able to find, book and pay for activities, and service providers are able to manage availability and bookings.
“The total addressable market for after-school and weekend classes, camps, lessons and activities for children is $12.5 billion. Galore consolidates those offerings in one place saving parents time and driving business for the service providers,” commented Ms. Marcelo. “We’re excited to add this valuable service to our platform as Care.com Explore, providing ease for parents and powerful tools for businesses.”
Mr. Levinsohn said, “We know that the positive response we’ve seen to our platform in San Francisco is just the beginning. With Care.com’s brand recognition and reach, we believe that, over time, we’ll be able to serve exponentially more parents and activity providers across the country, creating great experiences for kids and enabling countless businesses to thrive.”
Trusted, founded in 2015 by Anand Iyer and Vivian Chan, is an on-demand transaction-based app that enables parents to find nannies and sitters from curated caregivers registered on the platform, primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area. Families use the app to search, message, book and pay the caregiver(s) they hire. Trusted will be rebranded under the Care.com name in the coming months.
“We know that care needs differ from family to family and from situation to situation,” said Ms. Marcelo. “Being able to provide parents an on-demand child care solution for those one-time or short-term needs is a powerful addition to our service offering. The Trusted team has built a seamless and user-friendly platform that is highly regarded by families and caregivers alike. We look forward to introducing this innovative solution to our Care.com members and to the employees of our corporate clients.”
Mr. Iyer commented, “Care.com forever changed the way families find care and caregivers find work and we’re excited to bring an on-demand solution to their product mix for both consumers and corporate clients. We always envisioned expanding Trusted to cities across the U.S. and as part of the Care.com portfolio, that goal will be much more attainable.”
Over time, Trusted and Galore also have the potential to be integrated into Care.com’s SMB offerings that support its consumer and Care@Work enterprise platforms. Trusted could provide efficiencies and a powerful SaaS solution for Care@Work’s backup care nanny and home care agency partners across the country. Galore could provide a SaaS solution for SMBs to further scale Care.com’s existing Marketplace businesses for day cares and other care businesses.
“We are very excited to expand the Care.com family with these teams who share our mission and goal of delivering value to families, caregivers and corporate clients,” said Ms. Marcelo. “We believe that over time, we will be able to leverage their product platforms more broadly, especially as we enhance our online family care marketplace leadership with high-quality backup care, after-school, activities, and on-demand capabilities. Companies like Town + Country, Galore and Trusted help us to drive continuous profitable growth while also delivering on our mission to help build a scalable and sustainable care infrastructure.”
For more information about Town + Country; for Galore, https://www.care.com/explore; and for Trusted.
ABOUT CARE.COM
Since launching in 2007, Care.com (NYSE:
CRCM) has been committed to solving the complex care challenges that
impact families, caregivers, employers, and care service companies.
Today, Care.com is the world’s largest online destination for finding
and managing family care, with 16.9 million families and 12.7 million
caregivers* across more than 20 countries, including the U.S., UK,
Canada and parts of Western Europe, and approximately 1.4 million
employees of corporate clients having access to our services. Spanning
child care to senior care, pet care, housekeeping and more, Care.com
provides a sweeping array of services for families and caregivers to
find, manage and pay for care or find employment. These include: a
comprehensive suite of safety tools and resources members may use to
help make more informed hiring decisions - such as third-party
background check services, monitored messaging, and tips on hiring best
practices; easy ways for caregivers to be paid online or via mobile app;
and Care.com
Benefits, including the household payroll and tax services provided by Care.com
HomePay and the Care Benefit Bucks program, a peer-to-peer pooled,
portable benefits platform funded by household employer contributions
which provides caregivers access to professional benefits. For
enterprise clients, Care.com builds customized benefits packages
covering child care, backup care and senior care consulting services
through its Care@Work business, and serves care businesses with
marketing and recruiting support. Headquartered in Waltham,
Massachusetts, Care.com has offices in Berlin, Austin and the San
Francisco Bay Area.
*As of June 2018