Sawyer is a mobile-first, subscription-free online marketplace that connects over 100,000 parents to local out-of-school activities such as art classes, music lessons, and summer camps. The company also operates Sawyer Tools, a SaaS backend used by providers that updates marketplace listings in real time. Sawyer processed $20M in parent spending in 2018 and targets a roughly $50B out-of-school learning market. The platform is live in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles and serves parents of children aged 0–17, with 70% of child profiles under age 8. Future plans emphasize building data intelligence and personalization into the product to better match parents and programs and to expand into additional markets within the year. Sawyer builds a subscription-based software suite called Sawyer Tools that it says “hundreds” of outfits across the U.S. use to schedule classes, communicate with parents and process payments. It also operates a direct-to-consumer marketplace where parents can purchase classes à la carte without a membership; that service is currently available in New York, L.A., and Chicago. The company positions itself as the OpenTable of children’s activities and compares its infrastructure-first approach to MindBody in the wellness space. Sawyer is two years old, is led by CEO and co-founder Marissa Evans Alden, and has nine employees, several of whom came from Rent the Runway. Management plans to use part of the new funding to enter additional markets as it grows both the software and marketplace sides of the business. Sawyer is building an OpenTable-like platform to help museums, theaters, sports centers and kid-focused providers sell children's classes directly to families. Today it centers on class-pass subscriptions, charging parents $99/month for access to six classes or $39/month for access to two classes. The company was originally named The Kids Passport and currently employs seven people. Customers have booked more than 1,000 classes and the platform lists about 4,000 other listings across dates and times; it has recruited roughly 80 vendors to date through commission-paid local promoters. Sawyer says it is focused on getting the product right in Brooklyn (and soon Manhattan) rather than rapid city expansion, and expects the passport to be one line of business. CEO Marissa Evans and cofounder Stephanie Choi, who met at Rent The Runway, are experimenting with growth and vendor economics while declining to disclose exact revenue shares with vendors.

Total raised

$19M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

May 2019