Wonderschool
Much of California is a child-care desert, with 75 percent of kids without access to licensed care. And while demand and cost for day care is high, the majority of child-care professionals are underpaid. Wonderschool co-founders Chris Bennett W07 and Arrel Gray discovered California’s child-care problem firsthand when Gray struggled to find a day care for his toddler and was met with endless waitlists. Their San Francisco-based startup provides both quality care and a platform for teachers to open their own in-home day cares/preschools and earn a better income. Wonderschool offers lower child-to-teacher ratios than traditional day cares, mixed age groups, easy access to backup care through its network, and transparency in availability and pricing. The startup currently has more than 50 in-home day cares and preschools in California, and with a recently acquired $2 million in seed funding, it plans to expand into 15 new cities over the next year and a half.
