Bengaluru-based childcare startup Maasi has raised Rs 6 crore in a pre-seed round led by Better Capital, with participation from Antler India. The startup described it as one of the largest pre-seed rounds in India’s childcare category.
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Angel investors in the round include Rapido co-founder Rishikesh SR, Shadowfax co-founder Vaibhav Khandelwal, Xoxoday’s Sumit Khandelwal, Siddhant Goyal of Crane VC and Sanjay Ramakrishnan of Multiply Ventures.
Maasi said it will use the funding to scale caregiver recruitment and training, build its technology platform and grow its team in Bengaluru.
Founded by Aashu Manchali, who is CEO, Gargi Pandey, who is COO, and Reshov Roy, who is CTO. Maasi grew out of Urban Parents Club, a community of more than 8,000 Bengaluru parents run by the founders, where the question asked most often was where to find a nanny who could be trusted.
“Childcare is the hardest problem in Indian homes, and the system around it has let everyone down,” Manchali said at the launch.
Early numbers
The funding comes a week after Maasi’s public launch on 20 October. The startup said the launch drew a waitlist of more than 4,000 parents within five days.
It has so far served more than 1,200 parents through a network of over 500 caregivers, and said it is growing 20% week on week. Before the public launch, it ran an invite-only beta in Bengaluru.
“Finding reliable childcare is still a gamble for millions of Indian parents. We’re excited to back Aashu, Gargi and Reshov as they bring trust and accountability to it and build a new standard for childcare in India,” said Vaibhav Domkundwar, founder of Better Capital.
“This is a tier-A team solving the hardest problem in childcare. Maasi is exclusive by design, with every caregiver held to an exceptionally high bar, and that’s exactly why we backed them,” said Rajiv Srivatsa, Partner at Antler India.
What does Maasi do?
Maasi trains, pays and supports caregivers who look after children in families’ homes. It offers on-demand nanny visits starting at Rs 660 and monthly subscription plans starting at Rs 15,660.
The startup offers five services: a day nanny for 6 to 12 hours a day, a 24-hour live-in nanny, a japa nanny for postnatal care, an on-demand instant nanny and a governess. Families can browse matched caregiver profiles, conduct video calls with prospective nannies and confirm a start date. The company also arranges replacements if a caregiver leaves.
The governess, its newest category, is an English-speaking nanny trained in screen-free engagement and care. Maasi said it has drawn particular interest from parents.
Every caregiver is verified and trained before meeting a family, through a free programme led by preschool directors, nurses and former airline cabin crew trainers. Caregivers also wear Maasi uniforms.
For most working families in India, a nanny is still found through a neighbour or a WhatsApp forward, with no training, no accountability and no backup when she leaves. Maasi is betting that parents in large cities will pay for a vetted, managed alternative.
At its launch, Maasi pointed to the government’s Periodic Labour Force Survey, under which 44.4% of women outside the labour force cited childcare or homemaking commitments as their main reason for not working.
