Sometimes, a founder is in the right place at the right time.
That was the case for Storybook co-founder and CEO Francisco Cornejo, who secured $150,000 in cash grants and $500,000 in commitments from investors during last week's eMerge Americas conference in Miami Beach.
But it wasn't a straight path to success for Storybook, a mobile app that combines relaxation techniques, infant massage, music and bedtime stories to help parents and their children bond and sleep better. Cornejo and his wife and co-founder, Daniela Vega, were actually due to attend the 2020 eMerge conference after winning a pitch event in their home country, Ecuador.
They had their plane tickets and pitch ready-to-go – and then, the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The conference was ultimately postponed (and then canceled) only weeks before it was due to take place.
"Now we look back and everything ties together perfectly, but at the time we didn't know what was going on. It was disappointing," Cornejo said.
In the end, they decided to come to Miami anyway. Cornejo and Vega began to split their time between South Florida and Ecuador in 2021, when Miami began to make headlines as a rising technology hub. The pandemic, combined with local recruitment campaigns, suddenly brought new waves of founders and investors to the region as Storybook was establishing itself. The app ended up raising more than $1 million in seed funding by the end of last year.
"We were lucky to move here at exactly the right moment," Cornejo said.
Cornejo and Vega came upon the idea for Storybook by chance. The couple was living in Australia with their two young children and, like many parents, were struggling to get them to sleep at night. They began to incorporate infant massage, breathing exercises and stories into their bedtime routine to promote relaxation. The results, Cornejo said, were remarkable.
"[My children] enjoyed the routine so much that suddenly they were arguing about who got to go to bed first," he said.
Vega became an infant massage instructor and developed a booklet of instructions designed to be paired with music and stories. After moving back to Ecuador, the couple officially launched the Storybook app in 2019. The app, designed for babies and children up to 10 years old, is available in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Three hundred people purchased the app on the first day it was available, Cornejo said – a sign that other parents and caretakers saw value in the technology. Those numbers continued to rise and, soon enough, he left his position as CMO of Honda Motors Ecuador to devote himself to Storybook full-time.
It paid off. In January, Storybook won a $25,000 grant after taking first place at City National Bank of Florida's Startup Studio competition. After that, it secured a $100,000 cash grant from the Google Latino Founders Fund and $50,000 from Miami-Dade County during the 2022 eMerge Americas conference.
And the cash grants were just the beginning. Cornejo said Storybook also received $500,000 in commitments from angel investors who were introduced to the startup during the eMerge event. The company has already signed agreements with two of those investors.
Storybook now has more than 2 million users internationally and has partnerships with more than two dozen businesses that offer the app as a benefit to employees. The startup, which has 14 employees, aims to hire and add new content to the app with the new capital.
Cornejo said Storybook also plans to pursue more B2B partnerships as it works to eventually reach 300 million users worldwide.
"We think we can own this space of mental and emotional wellness to help millions of families connect with their kids, sleep better and have better emotional health," Cornejo said.
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