This stay-at-home mom turned a pandemic child care hack into a start-up that's raised $3.6 million
Problem
A dual crisis for parents
$75B market ripe for innovation
Today's parents face an unprecedented challenge:
- For Working Parents: Finding trusted, accessible, and affordable childcare is increasingly difficult and stressful.
- For Stay-at-Home Parents: It's hard to find flexible opportunities to earn income that fit around their childcare responsibilities.
Solution
The June Care App

June Care bridges this gap with an intuitive mobile app that puts power directly into parents' hands:

- Easy connections: We connect parents needing care with vetted, local stay-at-home parents and sitters
- Flexible & trusted care: Parents needing care can book and pay in seconds, accessing on-demand, trusted childcare solutions. Providers offer flexible rates and schedules.
- Income at home: Stay-at-home parents gain opportunities to earn income while caring for their own children, solving their need for flexible work. Our model increases supply with $0 upfront costs for providers.
- Seamless experience: The app offers personalized provider recommendations, in-app chat and video calls to easily confirm details and ensure a good fit

June Care is creating a new "careshare" category, similar to how Airbnb unlocked housing assets or Uber unlocked transportation assets, by leveraging existing, trusted resources within communities.

Traction
Rapid growth & national recognition

June Care's model is proving incredibly effective, driven by authentic community growth:

- Explosive Growth: We've achieved +300% growth year over year, with $1.3M GMV (annualized).
- Expansive Network: Expanded nationwide, boasting a network of over 30,000 providers and 11,000 families. Provider growth is driven 90% by "word of mom" referral.
- Quality & Efficiency: 98.6% of our providers receive a 5-star rating. We have a +97% fill rate in our target market and an avg time from job post to applicant of just 3 minutes.
- Strong Retention: We see +80% retention among our users.
- Funding: Raised pre-seed capital from notable investors like CRAFT and GREYCROFT.

Vision and strategy
Expanding access, everywhere
June Care's vision is simple yet powerful: moms supporting moms in their most important work. We aim to expand access to income opportunities for parents everywhere. With an annualized GMV projected to reach $5M by Q2 2026, we are poised for significant expansion.
We are currently raising $500K to capitalize on this momentum, planning to build on organic growth across California and new markets, expand to 3+ new cities per month, and launch strategic partnerships to access employer-sponsored demand. We are at a "crucible moment" with regulatory tailwinds, a proven product, and a strong "word of mom" flywheel.

Summary
Why Invest: Seize the Heart of the Care Economy
June Care offers a compelling investment opportunity in a rapidly expanding, underserved $75B market:
- Disruptive Model: Creating a new "careshare" category by leveraging existing parental networks, addressing supply and demand unlike traditional incumbents.
- Proven Traction & Growth: Demonstrating explosive user growth, high retention, and significant GMV increases driven largely by organic referrals.
- Strong Leadership: A passionate and experienced team with relevant industry and startup experience.
- Mission-Driven Impact: Investing in June Care means empowering parents, fostering community, and solving a critical societal need, all within a high-growth market.
Invest in June Care and help build the future of childcare, by families, for families.
Product
A user-friendly app that makes finding trusted childcare a breeze
June Care transforms finding childcare into a peer-to-peer experience, making it easier for parents to get childcare they trust. And they’re able to do that with our user-friendly app. Here’s how it works:
Parents use the June Care app to browse profiles of local caregivers and see their reviews, experience, rates, and location.
You can book and pay for childcare directly in the app, with options to chat or video call the provider beforehand to make sure they’re a good fit.
Most providers are highly rated, and many come recommended by other parents. June Care emphasizes “word of mom” referrals to maintain trust and quality.
The app gives you access to a lot of part-time, occasional, or backup childcare. It’s designed to be easy, safe, and flexible, so you’re not locked into a long-term commitment.
Competition
The most affordable, high-quality care families can find!
- Affordable: no membership fees or long-term contracts. Families only pay for the care they need / use.
- Flexible care for today's modern workforce - works for hybrid, shift, last-minute schedules vs. traditional M-F, 9AM - 5PM schedules.
- High quality providers must complete a full profile, share reviews / references, complete background checks and a profile review by our trust & safety team. Only 30% of applicants are onboarded as a June Care provider.
- Personalized (automated) matching so families can find their perfect match in minutes (vs. days or weeks with traditional solutions).
- Easy-to-use mobile app means families can book trusted care anytime from their phone. Vetting, interviews, booking and payments are all supported in the app!
- Instant book feature allows families to book care instantly based on a provider's real-time availability.
- Best-in-class customer support for families who are making one of the most important decision for their children.
Funding
$3.6 million raised from Craft Ventures, Greycroft, and angel investors
June Care has raised $3.6 million in funding to support its mission of providing flexible, affordable, and community-driven childcare.
Secured over two rounds, the funding comes from notable backers such as VC firms Craft Ventures (Airbnb, Facebook, Slack), Greycroft (Venmo, Bumble, Huffington Post), and Yes VC (Etsy, Kickstarter, Unity), as well as Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp and Instacart co-founder Max Mullen.
Founders
We are a fast-moving and lean team who has figured out how to scale this business through technology and automation.
Leadership Team
- Gretchen Salyer — Founder & CEO. Gretchen is the original “June Care” host, deeply rooted in her local community. Before starting June Care, she served as a Business Development Executive at Intuit, leading a partnerships team of over 75 people across four countries. She played a key role in developing the go-to-market strategy for QuickBooks in the Gig Economy. Outside of her professional achievements, Gretchen is also a former NCAA Champion Rower (2003).
- Tessa Kotch — Head of Customer Success. With over 15 years of experience as a Matching Specialist at Town & Country (acquired by Care.com), Tessa brings a deep understanding of pairing families with trusted caregivers. She leads June Care’s customer success team, ensuring that every family and host has the best possible experience.
- Ricardo Piro-Rael — Head of Engineering. A seasoned engineering leader, Ricardo has led technical teams at multiple early-stage startups. His previous experience includes key roles at Carta and Hint Health. At June Care, he heads up the engineering team, driving innovation and building the technology that powers the platform.














