A new social platform aiming to reduce the stress of parenting by helping school parents connect easily and securely with each other has received all of its GBP841,360 crowdfunded investment, having raised 153 per cent of its initial target.
Thousands of parents in hundreds of UK schools have already signed up.
Classlist is the first service offering an online parent to parent community, exclusively for people with school-aged children. It was created by two female entrepreneurs keen to connect parents in a world where they spend less time at the school gate than ever before.
The free-to-use service has received more than GBP840,000 in crowd-funded investment, backed by investors including chairman Will Hobhouse, the consumer marketing guru who grew Tie Rack, Whittard of Chelsea and Jack Wills from start-ups to leading brands.
Some 240 investors contributed to reaching 53 per cent of the initial GBP550,000 target, using Crowdcube. More than GBP150,000 was invested on the day of the EU Referendum, 23 June, alone.
Having amassed thousands of parent users in its pilot stage, the investment will enable the company to go fully mobile and expand internationally.
Classlist enables parents to get to know one another personally through organising social and fundraising events, lift-shares, playdates and birthday parties. Alongside social planning, the platform lets parents to communicate about homework, manage lost property and post classified ads.
Parent Teacher Associates (PTA) and Class Reps are major beneficiaries, with the platform saving them weeks of effort through instant calendaring and ticketing of events; sharing newsletters, and finding volunteers. Most Classlist sites are managed by the school PTA, who also authenticates joiners. The school itself has almost no involvement or liability.
Susan Burton, co-founder of Classlist, says: “Classlist solves a very simple problem: most schools don’t give out parent contact information. Schools are rightly concerned about data privacy, and few people are willing to put their phone number or home address on a big social media site. It is incredibly important for parents to build a trusted community. Having these details makes it a lot easier.”
Clare Wright, co-founder of Classlist, says: “Parents increasingly juggle responsibilities between full time jobs and school, and some tell us they struggle to identify other parents in their class. Classlist has all the information a parent needs in just a click or two.”
