BabyQuip Acquires Tot Squad’s Baby Gear Cleaning Services As COVID-19 Concerns Grow
Acquisition Highlights BabyQuip’s Ongoing Commitment to Clean and Safe Gear
(SAN FRANCISCO, CA, March 31, 2020) - BabyQuip (https://www.babyquip.com), the world’s leading mom-powered baby gear rental service, today announced the acquisition of Tot Squad’s baby gear cleaning and repair services for an undisclosed sum. Rebranded as BabyQuip Cleaning Services, this critical service is available immediately in Los Angeles and Washington, DC. BabyQuip will also be taking over Tot Squad’s partnership with Uber (NYSE: UBER), providing thoroughly clean and sanitized car seats to families in NYC. In the coming weeks, BabyQuip will train its network of over 600+ Quality Providers to provide the new cleaning services to families, expanding to the company’s other 500+ destinations throughout the US and Canada. For more details on BabyQuip’s new cleaning and repair offerings, please visit this link. Tot Squad will now focus on virtual and in-person services like lactation support and sleep consulting, as well as continuing with car seat installations.
“BabyQuip is already thoroughly cleaning and sanitizing car seats, strollers, cribs, and other baby equipment for traveling families. In fact, 99% of our customers rate our gear as spotless or exceptionally clean." said Fran Maier, BabyQuip Founder and CEO. “Especially now, given the heightened concern due to COVID-19, our community of Quality Providers will soon provide these cleaning services to local parents concerned about the gear they already own.”
“We're so thrilled to pass the baton to BabyQuip as they add our cleaning expertise into their successful rental model, while Tot Squad embarks on expansion in a new direction,” said Jen Saxton, Founder and CEO of Tot Squad.
BabyQuip will continue partnerships with many other organizations to ensure clean and safe car seats. Dr. Helen Arbogast, of the Children’s Hospital of LA said, "CHLA has partnered with Tot Squad to ensure our loaner car seats provided to some of our most medically vulnerable patients at discharge are sanitized and safe. We look forward to continuing this relationship with the team at BabyQuip!"
Research by noted expert Dr. Charles Gerba, Professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Arizona, shows that automobiles with children have 147% more bacteria. Dr. Gerba adds, “This result is in part due to unclean car seats. We advise thorough cleaning of car seats on a regular basis.”
BabyQuip has rented baby gear to over 40,000 traveling families visiting more than 500 destinations across the US and Canada. BabyQuip helps families “Pack Light and Travel Happy’ by delivering exceptionally clean, safe and insured baby gear (from full size cribs and strollers to toys and car seats) to hotels, vacation rentals and private residences. As a managed marketplace, the BabyQuip platform enables on-the-ground, “Quality Providers,” who are independent contractors, to build a solid business renting gear that they own. Mostly moms, the Quality Providers benefit from an active and supportive community, ongoing training regarding product safety and cleanliness, and leads generated from both online advertising and through strategic partnerships.
BabyQuip was featured on ABC’s “Shark Tank” on March 6, where BabyQuip’s CEO, Fran Maier, turned down a proposed $500,000 investment from “Mr. Wonderful,” Kevin O’Leary. That same week, the company closed a $850k seed round from nearly 100 individual investors on SeedInvest, the equity crowdfunding platform, and from current investors in the company. BabyQuip will use the funding to expand the business into new markets, enter into new partnerships, and expand into new services.
About BabyQuip
Founded in May 2016, BabyQuip is the world’s leading baby gear rental service, delivering thousands of clean, quality baby gear items to families who don't want to haul bulky gear while traveling throughout the US and Canada. The platform will soon enable gig-economy moms and others the opportunity to clean baby gear on behalf of families. Strategic BabyQuip partnerships include Destination Hotels (a Hyatt brand), Guesty, HomeAway, and UrbanSitter. For additional details on BabyQuip, including a list of Quality Providers, please visit babyquip.com. Follow the company on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
About the new Tot Squad
TotSquad.com is a curated marketplace that connects new parents with services, delivered via video-chat and in-person. From pregnancy to the playground, Tot Squad’s mission is to improve access to services like sleep and lactation consulting, car seat installation & babyproofing. Founded in 2010 by Founder & CEO Jennifer Beall Saxton, the company has served nearly 100,000 families. For more info, visit TotSquad.com or follow us @TotSquad.
BabyQuip Press Contact:
Bill Horn
Marque Communication
Tot Squad Press Contact:
Lindsey Rosenberg
