As March approaches, talk of spring cleaning is likely to arise in a number of households across the country something that will become even more of a chore for families with young children to clean up after.
Cue Funifi, the UK-founded parenting startup that hopes to make housework become a fun experience with its Funifi Do mobile app, which offers rewards and incentives for kids who complete their chores, claiming more than 30,000 tasks have been added since its Q4 2014 soft launch.
The company comes with the support of Unilever, having raised a seed round of 300,000 from angel investors through the Foundry innovation division of the consumer goods firm.
Funifi also secured a deal with Unilever’s cleaning tips network Cleanipedia with the partnership complementing the business’ brands which include Surf, Domestos, Dove, Radox and more.
Andrea Airoldi, global media manager, Unilever, said: Through the Unilever Foundry we received applications from startups from around the world to work on this initiative. What impressed us most about Funifi is their potential to reinvent family task management as we know it. We share many of Funifis core values and principles and are very excited to be an official partner of the team.
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The idea for the business was created by entrepreneurs with young families generating an idea for what they felt would make a difference to kids and parents everywhere, having witnessed the chaos of family life.
In addition to their own experiences, the team also works with child psychologists, teachers and parents to generate valid feedback, offering support through what it calls a secure online environment.
Andrew Michael, Funifi CEO and co-founder, said: We are working in an extremely exciting space; with over 88 million kids in the US and Europe alone with access to internet, the market is huge. This, along with the fact that today every child is a digital native, means that the timing could not be better.
“We are on a mission to positively impact every family on the planet and we have chosen to start by solving one of the biggest pain points for every household. We are off to a great start and the support of our investors and the partnerships we have tied up thus far have been a great endorsement for us. We have no doubt that Funifi will become a household name amongst next generation families and are really excited to see the impact we will make.
