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On the TechTO stage
Ron Spreeuwenberg of Hi Mama presents Starting up on a Shoestring
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Leading with a Purpose | Ron Spreeuwenberg, Co-founder and CEO of HiMama
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TechTO Summer Social Series: Fireside Chat with Ron Spreeuwenberg
Watch on YouTube ↗Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Lillio ↗
About
The company started in 2013 as HiMama, an app that told working parents what their child did in daycare that day. Spreeuwenberg told the TechTO stage in 2022 that they started it in 2013, didn't raise institutional money for years, and lived off customer revenue while learning the needs of thousands of childcare centres. From parent communication it added the tools to run a centre — scheduling, billing, curriculum, educator training. Bain Capital Double Impact led a C$70M Series B in November 2021. The company renamed itself Lillio in November 2023, saying the HiMama name had come to feel exclusionary to the range of programs and families it serves. Spreeuwenberg left after roughly a decade and now runs Societ; co-founder Alana Frome is listed as President, and Lillio's own site names Kai-leé Berke as CEO.
Backers
Bain Capital Double Impact led a C$70M Series B in November 2021, with existing investors Round13 Capital and BDC Capital's Women in Technology Venture Fund. · C$70M raised in that round
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Quick answers
Is Lillio the same company as HiMama?
Yes. HiMama renamed itself Lillio in November 2023. The company said the old name had come to feel exclusionary to the range of programs and families it serves, and that the product had grown well past parent messaging into centre management, curriculum and educator training.
Who founded Lillio?
Ron Spreeuwenberg and Alana Frome, in Toronto in 2013, when it was HiMama. Spreeuwenberg was CEO for about a decade and has since left — he now runs Societ. Frome is listed as Co-founder and President. Lillio's own site names Kai-leé Berke as CEO.
How did HiMama start?
From a parent who couldn't read the handwritten daily report from his son's daycare and threw it in the bin. Spreeuwenberg then cold-called ten daycares out of the Yellow Pages to check the problem was real. He told the TechTO stage in 2016 they started up on a shoestring and had over 100,000 users before raising institutional money.
Has Lillio raised money?
It ran on customer revenue for its first years, then raised a C$70M Series B led by Bain Capital Double Impact in November 2021, with Round13 Capital and BDC Capital's Women in Technology Venture Fund. Spreeuwenberg told TechTO the Bain money came from their impact fund, which fit the company's social goals.