• Joan Nguyen co-founded Bumo to help parents book last-minute childcare.
• The app features vetted childcare providers and works similarly to Airbnb.
• The pitch deck has raised $10 million so far, with another $10 million seed round coming up.

Modern life makes it easy to order late-night cars home, book spontaneous vacation rentals, and get lightning-fast takeout. But getting childcare on short notice? For many that's still a pipe dream.

Joan Nguyen founded Bumo, an app that allows parents to book empty slots at local childcare centers, after starting two childcare ventures during the pandemic.

From working with parents, Nguyen said she realized that they often needed what she calls "fractional childcare," such as when their nanny called in sick or something pressing came up at work.

"As a parent, I also felt the pain of not being able to get childcare when you absolutely needed it," Nguyen told Business Insider. "Why is it easier for me to find a dog walker than it is to find a sitter or a nanny?"

Launched in 2024 after raising $10 million, the Bumo app was co-founded by Nguyen and Chriselle Lim. It's a continuation of a joint co-working and childcare center they launched in late 2019, followed by BumoBrain, an online learning platform they created at the height of the pandemic to help working parents.

This week, Bumo is preparing to announce a $10 million seed funding round, led by venture capital firms Offline Ventures and True Ventures, Bumo shared exclusively with Business Insider.

The app, which has about 10,000 users and offers services in 200 locations within 13 states, works similarly to Airbnb. Parents can filter and sift through childcare options from drop-in daycares to summer camps, some of them offering same-day availability.

Nguyen said Bumo also fits in with the consumer demand "to want things instantly," now accustomed to quick bookings and deliveries. Meanwhile, "you see childcare as this kind of monolithic thing that hasn't really changed a lot," she said.

Filling a gap in childcare demands

Bumo aims to offer more convenience and fill a gap in the US childcare system.

Parents are more isolated than they have been in generations, not always being able to rely on family members to help them. Many also can't afford full-time daycare, but still need some part-time childcare options.

To ensure safety, Nguyen said every service listed on Bumo is licensed by their respective state and has a "digital footprint" including past reviews. Bumo staff also interviews with each facility at least once a year (sometimes virtually depending on the provider's location) to make sure that they're up-to-date on background checks and that all staff have proper certifications.

Nguyen said that Bumo only uses original photography and videos for each facility instead of stock photos. Parents can also upload photos in their reviews.

Bumo's next step is to keep expanding in other cities; right now, Los Angeles has the highest number of childcare offerings on the app. The goal is to increase Bumo's density in San Francisco and to introduce its service in New York City.

Read the 16-page pitch deck Bumo used to secure $10 million.

Bumo opens with a positive press quote.

It sums up the key benefit of Bumo: expediency.

Introducing the founding team and each member's accomplishments.

The slide features the team members' experience levels, follower counts, and press mentions.

It defines the app and what makes it stand out.

The slide includes a graphic of the app in action.

It addresses the core childcare problems working parents face.

A simple graphic illustrates the obstacles parents face in securing childcare.

It then shows how childcare providers benefit from the app.

It highlights the practicality of the app: childcare providers have empty slots they want to fill, incentivizing them to use Bumo.

The next slide demonstrates how simple the app is to use.

It uses a similar calendar booking system to Airbnb or Rover.

The deck emphasizes lower costs.

Parents don't have to commit to full programs they can't afford.

Another slide sums up the key benefits for everyone.

It emphasizes the mutual relationship between parents and childcare providers.

The deck then transitions into Bumo's accomplishments.

It addresses how many families currently use Bumo, the number of providers, and the social media reach. It also shows investors the opportunities for growth.

Another slide highlights Bumo's commitment to digital outreach.

It shows a concerted strategy to promote the app in smaller parenting communities on Facebook and Instagram.

The presentation winds down by zooming out on the market.

It illustrates how big the childcare market is.

It draws comparisons to other successful apps.

It also asserts that, unlike the other apps, Bumo has no competition so far.

The second-to-last slide shows Bumo's projected growth.

It includes other methods of revenue and its target numbers for childcare service expansion.

The deck ends with a strong tagline.

It brands Bumo as a company that also cares about parents' well-being and understands their struggles.

• For Love & Money is a column from Business Insider answering your relationship and money questions.
• This week, a reader's husband feels he's "doing it all" and wants her to get a remote job so she can take on more responsibilities.
• Our columnist suggests they work together to find ways to better balance responsibilities, without ending anyone's career.
• Have a question for our columnist? Write to For Love & Money using this Google form.

Dear For Love & Money,

My husband and I are in our mid-40s with two young children. My husband is a veteran and is currently self-employed as a carpenter. He receives a monthly disability benefit, which has allowed him to have a more flexible career, working intermittently for a few months or a year to build up a "safety net" and taking time off to travel and focus on hobbies. I have a stable federal career as a social worker with the Department of Veterans Affairs, which includes excellent benefits, a pension, and family health insurance. We both make good incomes and have money set aside. We keep our finances separate and split our bills 50/50. This has worked until recently.

Up until about four months ago, I worked remotely, which gave me the flexibility to walk the kids to and from childcare. Then I received the federal return-to-office order, and I lost that flexibility. My husband took over mornings and after school with the kids, leaving him about five to six hours to work when he has a paying carpentry job. Even though it seems like a small adjustment, it's becoming a big issue — I miss my flexibility and ability to have that extra time with the kids, and my husband wants a few more hours each day to work on carpentry projects without worrying about the kids' schedules. He has also expressed feeling like a stay-at-home dad who's "doing it all," and feeling like I take this setup for granted.

We recently got into a heated discussion, and he asked me to consider leaving my stable career and benefits to find another job that's either remote or part-time to take back the stay-at-home parent role, so he can focus on building his business. I've no intention of leaving my job — the pay is great, I enjoy what I do, and there's opportunity for growth. I also don't feel comfortable losing that stability for myself and for our kids. I've suggested adjusting the 50/50 split to decrease the pressure on his carpentry business, but he hasn't shown interest in that, and truthfully, I know my income alone won't cover our monthly expenses.

How do we maintain enough flexibility for one parent to be able to walk the kids to and from school without having to pay someone else to do it and, more importantly, not sacrifice career stability or opportunities?

Sincerely,

Standing for Stability

Dear Standing,

The term "stay-at-home-parent" refers to someone whose exclusive job is staying home and providing childcare for their children. To be clear, your husband is not a stay-at-home dad any more than you were the stay-at-home parent when you were working remotely or if you were to get a new remote job. I don't say this to be pedantic; I clarify this point because, as convenient as it may feel for one parent to work from home and be on hand for their child's needs, these are two separate, time-consuming jobs.

You mentioned that your husband feels he is "doing it all", which makes sense if he is the one at the house all day, surrounded by the responsibilities of your lives. He may be struggling to balance everything more than you did when you were working from home due to being self-employed and not reporting to a boss or having hard deadlines; I myself know how easy it is for my other responsibilities to creep up my to-do list when there's no external source forcing me to prioritize my paid work.

At the same time, he has to recognize that what you're asking of him isn't impossible; in fact, when you were working from home, you were taking on these responsibilities that he feels overwhelmed by. It's possible he took for granted that you were "doing it all" without even realizing it, and the answer to your problems isn't simply making things go back to the way they were.

Quitting your job in the hopes that you can find something remote seems like a vast overreaction to inconvenient pick-up and drop-off times. Your solution will be found in the details of your daily routine, which will be hard to negotiate if you've both mentally reduced your schedules to: "You have time. You're home all day," and "I don't. I'm in the office or doing carpentry all day."

Instead, address your husband's logistical obstacles directly. Ask him what specifically isn't working for him. Maybe he'll tell you he feels like every time he gets into the flow, it's time to pick the kids up from school, or every time he drops them off, his day gets derailed by tasks. Working from home can be challenging because personal and professional boundaries often become blurred; you walk past the kitchen and notice the trash needs to be taken out, and then the dishwasher's clean light pops on, and suddenly, two hours have passed, and you haven't even started working on the projects you've planned for the day.

If he feels that drop-off regularly triggers a series of rolling tasks, create a standing chore schedule. If your husband knows you will get the dishwasher after dinner, he won't need to worry about taking care of it during the day.

Support your husband in creating boundaries around a workflow that feels productive and doable for him. Perhaps there are strategies you learned when you were working from home that he could incorporate into his daily workflow. Another way to help balance the workflow might also be to ask your boss about any potential flexibility; if you can change your hours from 9 to 6, for instance, you may be able to add dropping your kids off back into the mix.

As a work-from-home, self-employed person, I know that when someone says they feel like they're doing it all, what they're really saying is "Does anyone appreciate how hard I'm working? Will they help?" You talked about adjusting how you divide your bills, but adjusting how you distribute the labor in your home and making sure everyone feels they have the tools they need to succeed could be a more effective way of meeting everyone's needs without ruining anyone's career.

Rooting for you,

For Love & Money

Looking for advice on how your savings, debt, or another financial challenge is affecting your relationships? Write to For Love & Money using this Google form.