WHAT'S NEW AT BIG? PEARACHUTE

Pearachute seeks to become the world’s largest provider of family activities. From finger painting with friends to toddler tap dancing lessons, the company’s subscription service allows parents to explore a wide range of quality, locally available children’s activities at the touch of a button. The company recently aired on ABC’s Shark Tank on October, 29th. You can watch the full episode here.

Pearachute is expanding into markets far beyond its native Chicago, and, has recently acquired a Washington, DC-based competitor JumpIt Pass. Pearachute boasts a quarterly user growth rate of roughly 46% in a space that has already been validated by other innovators in the marketplace. User networks are also live in Dallas, Kansas City, and San Francisco, with more markets on the horizon. 

Looking forward, social features that allow users to invite and interact with their friends on the service will maximize Pearachute's already potent popularity. “The company has gotten a lot of traction from word of mouth marketing, referral marketing, and they recently introduced an invite-a-friend feature that has been really successful,” said Charisse Conanan Johnson (YC ’02), BIG’s deal sponsor for Pearachute. “The next phase of social inclusivity and integration will be big, particularly since you want to go to a class or children’s activity that your friends or your children’s friends are attending. We have a lot of confidence in founder Desiree Vargas Wrigley (YC ’04), a veteran builder of two-sided networks who founded her first company, GiveForward, in early 2008.”