Maasi Raises ₹6 Cr Pre-Seed to Make Nannies Predictable
A week after its public launch, Maasi has raised ₹6 crore to train and place nannies in Bengaluru. Its website says background checks start after a family selects a caregiver, and the weekly growth rate sits on a base of 1,200 parents.
Maasi has raised ₹6 crore a week after launching publicly, for a company that trains, places and pays nannies in Bengaluru.
Better Capital led the pre-seed round alongside Antler India. The money goes into caregiver recruitment and training, the technology platform and the Bengaluru team. Angel investors in the round are:
- Rishikesh SR, Rapido
- Vaibhav Khandelwal, Shadowfax
- Sumit Khandelwal, Xoxoday
- Siddhant Goyal, Crane VC
- Sanjay Ramakrishnan, Multiply Ventures
How a family hires a nanny through Maasi
A family picks a service, browses caregiver profiles, speaks to a shortlisted caregiver on a video call and then confirms. It pays a small registration fee, refundable under Maasi's policy if it does not hire, then a subscription fee to Maasi plus the caregiver's monthly fee, which Maasi collects and passes on. Maasi says its subscriptions start at ₹5,999 a month and on-demand care at ₹199 an hour. Its website lists the plans below:
- Day nanny, six to 12 hours a day: ₹15,660 a month
- 24-hour live-in nanny: ₹24,600 a month
- Japa, or post-natal, nanny: ₹33,660 a month
- Governess, an English-speaking nanny trained in screen-free engagement: from ₹35,660 a month
- Instant nanny, on demand: ₹660 a visit
Maasi says every caregiver completes a free training programme led by preschool directors, nurses and former airline cabin crew trainers, and that six in ten candidates do not clear it. Its FAQ says most caregivers are pre-vetted before they are introduced and that background checks through vendors such as SpringVerify and OnGrid run after a caregiver is selected. It also describes a 16-point psychometric assessment and weeks of in-person observation.
Two founders from gaming and a community of 8,000 parents
Maasi grew out of Urban Parents Club, a Bengaluru community of more than 8,000 parents where one question kept coming up: where do I find a nanny I can trust? The three founders grew up in families that ran schools, and decided to act after a close friend quit her job because she could not find reliable childcare. Maasi's website says Aashu Manchali was chief of staff at Xoxoday, Gargi Pandey worked at Cars24, MPL and Gameskraft, and Reshov Roy at CapMint and Gameskraft.
Two of the angels, Rapido co-founder Rishikesh SR and Shadowfax co-founder Vaibhav Khandelwal, built companies that depend on large networks of gig workers. A third, Sumit Khandelwal, is from Xoxoday, where Manchali was chief of staff.
A week of data
The public launch on 20 October drew a waitlist of more than 4,000 parents in five days. Maasi says it has served more than 1,200 parents through more than 500 caregivers and is growing 20% a week. At 20% a week, 1,200 parents becomes about 7,400 in ten weeks, a pace that is rarely held, and the company has not said how many placements are still running after six months. It cites a 2018 study by Ashoka University's Genpact Centre for Women's Leadership for the claim that half of India's working women leave their jobs to care for their children. Coverage at the time reported that about half of new mothers leave their jobs and that only 27% return, though outlets reported the figures differently, and the study is eight years old.
The site says: "We're on day one of a long climb."
In this category I would watch how many nannies are still with their families six months on, more than the size of the waitlist.
Much larger rounds in the same labour pool
The round is about $630,000. Snabbit, which Bloomberg describes as a rival to Urban Company and Pronto, raised a $56 million Series D in April for trained, verified household help on demand, and Pronto raised a $25 million Series B led by Epiq Capital in March. Neither does childcare, but all three sell a platform-trained worker in place of an informal hire.
Better Capital, founded by Vaibhav Domkundwar, calls itself India's largest inception-stage venture fund, and Rajiv Srivatsa of Antler India said Maasi is "exclusive by design." Antler India also co-led the $1.3 million seed round for the trivia app dubdub on the same day.
Frequently asked questions
How much has Maasi raised?
Maasi has raised ₹6 crore, about $630,000, in a pre-seed round led by Better Capital alongside Antler India, and angel investors from Rapido, Shadowfax, Xoxoday, Crane VC and Multiply Ventures.
What does Maasi do?
Maasi is a Bengaluru childcare company that trains, verifies and places nannies with families on day, live-in, post-natal and on-demand plans.
How much does a Maasi nanny cost?
Its website lists a day nanny at ₹15,660 a month and a 24-hour nanny at ₹24,600, with on-demand visits at ₹660. Maasi says on-demand care starts at ₹199 an hour and subscriptions at ₹5,999 a month.
Are Maasi nannies background verified?
Maasi says caregivers are trained and vetted, and that standard background checks through vendors such as SpringVerify and OnGrid run after a family selects a caregiver.
