Wonderschool Acquires ChildcareMatters SubPool Platform to Help Child Care Providers with Substitute Support

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Apr 18, 2024, 09:00 ET

Platform from the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee marks the second acquisition for Wonderschool in one month

SAN FRANCISCO, April 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Wonderschool, the innovative child care platform, today announced it is acquiring the ChildcareMatters substitute teaching pool ("SubPool") platform from the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. Wonderschool will integrate the ChildcareMatters platform into its comprehensive SubPool solution to assist governments in matching centers with qualified substitutes to reduce administrative burnout in child care.

The Wonderschool SubPool provides early educators with real-time access to high-quality, background-screened child care substitutes, helping them avoid burnout or sudden closures. Wonderschool has been licensing ChildcareMatters since September 2023, when Wonderschool first used it to launch a statewide SubPool in Mississippi. Wonderschool has already seen tremendous success. In the first four months of leveraging the technology, more than 20% of the Mississippi registered child care providers joined the platform to find qualified, pre-screened substitutes. Wonderschool currently has a match rate of almost 70%, well above the industry average of 40%. More than 3,500 individuals have applied to join Wonderschool's Mississippi SubPool, and active subs have already worked more than 3,000 hours.

"Child care providers are the 'workforce behind the workforce', and when they can't work, the system breaks down," said Chris Bennett, CEO at Wonderschool. "We were pleased with the early usage success of the platform in Mississippi and we knew this technology would be best served if it could be used by child care providers to find qualified substitute teachers for temporary care across the nation."

The acquisition of ChildcareMatters is the newest addition to Wonderschool's suite of solutions transforming how child care businesses manage staffing, reduce administrative inefficiency, and ultimately avoid burnout or sudden closures. In addition to the SubPool, that suite includes:

Teacher Recruitment: a platform, powered by EarlyDay, that uses AI to match teacher candidates with child care positions. Wonderschool acquired EarlyDay in March 2024 to solve staffing shortages for child care businesses.
Helping Hand: a solution that provides back office and administrative support to child care providers by managing their incoming emails and phone calls from interested parents.

"We are excited to watch Wonderschool scale the ChildcareMatters platform to child care providers around the country, and are thrilled with what they've done already in Mississippi," said Hal Cato, CEO at Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. "Our integration presents an opportunity to ensure child care providers have access to a vetted substitute teacher pool which is critical to having a robust workforce and an accessible child care network."

For more information, please visit www.wonderschool.com. For media inquiries, please contact [email protected].

About Wonderschool
Wonderschool's comprehensive technology and business support platform is designed to address every aspect of the child care and early learning ecosystem. Wonderschool's vision is to ensure that quality early care and education are conveniently accessible to every child within a 5-minute radius of their home. As leaders in collaborating with governments and employers, Wonderschool spearheads initiatives to scale and enhance child care access for every community across the country. Named one of Time's Most Influential Companies in 2022, Wonderschool is venture-backed by Goldman Sachs, Andreessen Horowitz, First Round, Omidyar, Unusual Ventures, and Gary Community Investments, among others. Learn more at www.wonderschool.com.

SOURCE Wonderschool