👊🏽 Special Edition: Ganas and I invested in Storybook!
This is a special edition of Lolita's Newsletter, monthly newsletter of curated actionable insights and resources for over 20,000 underestimated founders, funders, and friends.
Hi all! I’m so excited to share with you that Ganas Ventures and I joined the Storybook family, and so can you!
🏃🏽♀️💨 Catch up.
In March 2022, we launched Ganas Ventures; invested in Latitud’s seed round co-led by a16z/NFX, Around’s seed round led by Leap Global Partners, Shappi’s seed round led by Sixers Innovation Lab, Leadsales pre-seed round led by Ulu Ventures, Masa’s seed round led by DCG, and Papaya’s pre-seed round led by Chingona Ventures; raised capital from unicorn founders, and LP and VC thought leaders, and Ganas and I were featured on the Nasdaq Tower for our leadership in equity within the startup-VC ecosystem. And now, we’re excited to announce our latest investment into Storybook, brought to us by Ganas Deal Partner Ana Montenegro, IncludedVC Fellow!
Ganas Ventures and I have invested in Storybook alongside seed round investors Launch, JCal, Goodwater Capital, Magma Partners, Buen Trip Ventures, and more. Their mentors and scientific advisors include Becky Roosevelt of Family Sleep Institute, Prof. Martha Pelaez of the American Psychological Association, and Jill Koziol of Motherly.
💰 Founders, apply for investment here. 👊🏽 LPs, apply to invest in Ganas here.
🦄👊🏽 Storybook investment TL;DR.
There’s a lot to love about Storybook. They are…
visionary founders with market-startup-fit in children's mental health
tapping into a growing $200B global mental health market
#1 Parenting App in 90 countries
$1M ARR last year, rapidly growing, with a 3:1 LTV:CAC ratio
Storybook. Storybook app combines narrated bedtime stories, music, and relaxation techniques like meditation and infant massage to help parents share high-quality time with their children before bedtime to improve emotional health and sleep.
Team. Led by co-founders who created the product for their own children that now helps 2m+ parents in 155 countries do the same. Francisco, the CEO, was the youngest C-level exec at Honda Motors in Ecuador and a seasoned founder who has scaled and sold 3 previous companies. Daniela, the CCO who has written over 100 children's stories, is a certified Infant Massage Educator with a community of over 200k mothers following her on social media. She invented the Storybook approach of combining massages, music, and stories to help her own children sleep. Together they’ve assembled a stellar team of operators (former Calm, Cabify, TriviaCrack, Lingokids) and advisors that are pioneering the behavioral science space and are seasoned industry leaders in the well-being and parenting industry.
Traction. Storybook has been featured by Apple and Google and has been the #1 Parenting app in 90 countries. Storybook is free to download and has a premium subscription plan that unlocks over 100 original stories and more than 100 relaxation techniques designed for kids ages 0-12. The Storybook surpassed $1M ARR last year and is on track to double revenue, and has a 3:1 LTV:CAC ratio.
Market. Storybooks TAM can be estimated in many ways. The mental health app market is poised to grow from $36B in 2020 to over $200B in 2026 with a 30.5% CAGR.
Catalyzing the future of children wellness, meditation, and mindfulness. Storybook focuses on assisting parents rather than entertaining children with screen time before bed. The app guides parents through massages and provides relaxing bedtime stories, recognizing that parents have the greatest influence in helping their children fall asleep. They understand the importance of infant massages for relaxation and bonding. Developing original content and characters adds to their differentiation and potential revenue streams. By making bedtime routines special, Storybook aims to create meaningful bonding moments between parents and children.
Community-driven. Storybook App has a large and growing community of over 200K parents in 90 countries.
Roadmap. Over the next 1-3 years, Storybook plans to strengthen their product and content, conduct clinical trials, and grow both their B2C and B2B segments while achieving profitability. Their long-term vision is to become a comprehensive resource for parents with a range of tools, learning materials, and assistance in the rewarding journey of parenthood.
😇🚀 You can also join the Storybook family. Join the Storybook family as a customer and by becoming a Ganas LP.
✨ Lolita Taub, GP at Ganas Ventures | twitter | luma
Disclaimer: Ganas Ventures is a 506c fund that allows us to publicly solicit for our raise. All are welcome to apply to become an LP; however, commitments to Ganas Ventures will only be accepted by accredited investors.