The Covid-19 pandemic created the ultimate balancing act for working parents.
Their living rooms became an office, school and relaxation space, rolled into one. They needed a break, but social distancing made babysitting or daycares impossible.
Cue Clubba, an Atlanta startup that pivoted from a babysitting service to a virtual club platform.
The clubs, geared toward kids ages 6-13, aim to keep students interested in fun topics, such as YouTubing, one of the most popular courses, founder Ifrah Khan said.
As students return to in-person classes, Khan said the platform will continue to have value and doesn’t plan on doing an in-person business model. Usit, the babysitting service marketplace, will return post-pandemic.
"Parents prefer things that are convenient and good for their kids,” Khan said. “Virtual activities are still relevant when kids go back to school because it’s more convenient and more options available.”
The Atlanta Tech Village startup raised $150,000 in 2020, including from the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund and Hawaii accelerator Blue Startups. There are about 1,000 counselors on the platform, mostly college students, who can teach the classes.
The hour-long sessions, which are small groups of about five students, include movement exercises and games or social time. Parents pay $60 for four sessions, which are once a week for a month. Many of Clubba’s customers are based in Atlanta, Chicago and California.
“We found that the lowest ratings for schools are usually their clubs,” Khan said. “We want to offer this resource to parents who want their kids to do something in the creative industry.”
Entrepreneurship and investing are also high-demand courses. Khan said the courses are chosen through customer feedback or pitched by the counselors depending on their interests.
The startup is expanding to include virtual homework help classes as well. Clubba is working with nonprofits to give underprivileged families this service, Khan said.
Khan and Connor Ford, the chief technology officer and co-founder, originally started a babysitting marketplace called Usit Inc., which morphed into Clubba when the pandemic ruined the market for that service.
They first started with virtual summer camps and continued tweaking the product depending on the needs of the customers. Ford said one of the main product fixes was adapting the site to iPads, which they found many children relied on for the courses.
The founders plan to raise another funding round and continue to expand their club offerings and customer base this year.
