Banking & Finance  April 4, 2017

Cubspot Inc. finding success in first round of funding

BOULDER — Cubspot Inc., an online marketplace for kids’ tutors, classes and camps, has sold $200,000 in convertible notes in its first round of funding.

Cubspot’s chief executive, Rachael Shayne, said her company is seeking a total of $750,000 by selling debt as promissory notes, and has found an investor in a technology startup studio, Boulder Bits.

The company — a marketplace for parents seeking activities for their children and a posting place for providers of those activities — will use the funding to start building back-office software catered to the camps and tutors.

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“Our plan is to develop additional functionality,” Shayne said. “The midsize and smaller camps are hungry to offload some of the work they do, like scheduling and payments, to software. But some of what is out there is antiquated. Because Cubspot was built from scratch, we understand what parents and providers need for booking and payment.”

Shayne said she saw a market opportunity in helping small-business owners “care deeply about our children, but at the end of the day not necessarily be marketers or chief operations officers.”

Rachael Shayne, CEO of Cubspot.

Although it’s a business model for her company, Shayne said she wanted to build a simple software for small-business owners in the camp, class and tutoring industry.

“Because this is a dual-sided marketplace, we’ve learned a lot from parents,” she said. “We know what parents want in booking, so we plan to build software that’s good for parents and good for businesses. Parents want to finish booking, pay for it and have it added to their calendar. Some software out there is great but not perfect for this industry. That’s the space we want to go into.”

In addition to engineering, Shayne said some of the funding will go to sales.

Cubspot started in October 2016, and is already seeing a surge in activity ahead of the summer-camp season.

The company formed as a way to provide parents with choices and a management system, as well as a funnel for new customers for providers. Right now, it’s free for both sides to use.

“We’re still figuring out our business model, and are looking at generating revenue by having something on top of booking,” Shayne said. “But there will always be a free way to use it.”

Shayne said the company plans to bring in ads to the website, and is generating revenue through its concierge service, which books activities for parents for an eight percent service fee.

 

BOULDER — Cubspot Inc., an online marketplace for kids’ tutors, classes and camps, has sold $200,000 in convertible notes in its first round of funding.

Cubspot’s chief executive, Rachael Shayne, said her company is seeking a total of $750,000 by selling debt as promissory notes, and has found an investor in a technology startup studio, Boulder Bits.

The company — a marketplace for parents seeking activities for their children and a posting place for providers of those activities — will use the funding to start building back-office software catered to the camps and tutors.

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