Sittr
Sittr is an Australian two-sided marketplace, headquartered in Sydney, that connects parents with pre-screened babysitters and nannies across five major metros via a mobile app and web platform, monetizing through per-booking transaction fees.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersSydney, Australia
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Sittr does
Sittr Pty Ltd is an Australian consumer marketplace platform headquartered in Sydney that connects parents with pre-screened babysitters and nannies. Founded in 2014 by James and Samantha McKinnon, the platform operates across Australia's five largest metro areas (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide) via native iOS and Android applications and a web portal at sittr.com. Its core product architecture consists of (i) a two-sided search-and-booking marketplace, (ii) a proprietary pre-screening verification system that validates government Photo ID, Working With Children Checks against state databases, and Senior First Aid certifications, (iii) Sittr Phone — an in-app calling feature providing dedicated routing numbers for parent-carer communication across the booking lifecycle, and (iv) a custom-built Public Liability and Professional Indemnity insurance product backed by a major global insurer and offered across all bookings.
The business model is per-booking transaction-based with no membership, subscription, or booking fees. Parents pay the carer's hourly rate (e.g., AU$34/hour illustrative) plus a platform service fee, with payments processed via Stripe's tokenized Vault. Carers set their own hourly rates and the platform monetizes via take rate on each completed transaction. Distribution relies on earned media across major Australian outlets (News.com.au, AFR, Kidspot, 9Honey, Herald Sun, SBS, Huffington Post) and organic SEO across city-specific landing pages. Adjacent revenue surfaces include Sittr Corporate Services for B2B clients and Square-powered gift cards.
The company was originally capitalized by a seed round of approximately AU$152,063 from BlueChilli in April 2015 and acquired Kindy in November 2016 to extend into early-childhood services. Current headcount is 1-10 employees. Operational partners include Stripe (payments), Intercom (customer support), Square (gift cards), and Facebook (optional identity verification for carers). No subsequent funding rounds, AI/ML capabilities, or international expansion have been disclosed.
Sittr firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Sittr
- Legal name
- Sittr Pty Ltd
- Website
- https://sittr.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Sittr is an Australian two-sided marketplace, headquartered in Sydney, that connects parents with pre-screened babysitters and nannies across five major metros via a mobile app and web platform, monetizing through per-booking transaction fees.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Sittr industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Childcare Marketplace
- NAICS
- Child Care Services (62441)
- SIC
- Services-Child Day Care Services (8351)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Temporary/On-Demand Babysitter Placement (HSAAALAD)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Date Night & Evening Babysitting (HSAAAAAA), Overnight Babysitting (Ad Hoc) (HSAAAAAJ)
Keywords
Where Sittr is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Sydney
- HQ country
- Australia
- HQ region
- Oceania
Offices1 record
Markets served
Sittr business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Booking Transaction Fees: Sittr charges parents the hourly rate for their chosen babysitter or nanny through the platform. No membership or subscription fees are charged to join or access the platform. The platform takes a percentage or fixed fee on each transaction as the service fee.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Per-booking transaction model - no upfront fees |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels1 record
Sittr product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Sittr operates an online two-sided marketplace that connects Australian parents with pre-screened, identity-verified babysitters and nannies across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide. The platform supports parent-initiated bookings and parent-posted jobs, runs on Stripe-backed escrow payments, and includes proprietary Public Liability and Professional Indemnity insurance and Senior First Aid verification for every carer. The platform takes a percentage of each completed booking rather than charging parents subscriptions or listing fees.
Product overview
Sittr operates as a childcare marketplace platform connecting parents with pre-screened babysitters and nannies. The core offering consists of a unified mobile app (available on iOS and Android) and web platform that enables parents to search, book, and manage childcare providers. Key platform components include the Sittr Mobile App for on-the-go access, the Sittr Web Platform for comprehensive searching and booking management, the Sittr Phone feature for in-app calling between parents and carers, and the proprietary Sittr Carer Verification System that screens all carers through government ID checks, Working With Children Checks, and First Aid certification validation. The platform also includes value-added services such as Sittr Insurance (Public Liability and Professional Indemnity coverage), gift cards, and corporate services for business clients. All bookings are processed through Stripe payment integration with no membership or subscription fees—parents pay only the hourly rate for their chosen carer.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Sittr Mobile App Native iOS and Android application enabling parents to search for babysitters and nannies, post jobs, send booking requests, message carers, complete in-app calls through Sittr Phone, and pay for bookings via Stripe — all from a mobile device.
- Sittr Web Platform Web platform at sittr.com where parents search verified babysitter and nanny profiles by city (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide), post jobs for carers to apply, filter by skills and services, and manage bookings; also serves as the portal for carers to create profiles and manage availability.
- Sittr Insurance Proprietary Public Liability and Professional Indemnity insurance coverage built by Sittr and underwritten by a major global insurer, covering parents and carers during every booking made through the platform and addressing gaps in off-the-shelf childcare cover.
- Sittr Gift Cards Purchasable gift cards redeemable against babysitter and nanny bookings on the Sittr platform, distributed via Square's sittr.square.site storefront.
- Sittr Corporate Services B2B offering for corporate clients that delivers vetted, verified, and insured babysitters and nannies for workplace childcare needs such as employee benefits or backup-care programs.
Companies that use Sittr
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Sittr technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
Feature4 records
Sittr partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- StripecoreStripe is used as the payment processing partner for all credit card transactions on the Sittr platform. Stripe's secure vault stores credit card details with encryption, ensuring payment information does not touch Sittr's servers directly. This partnership enables secure payment processing for hourly booking transactions between parents and carers.
- Intercom (for Customer Support)coreSittr uses Intercom for customer support operations, powering their Help Center and live chat functionality on help.sittr.com.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Sittr competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Care.com: Global marketplace connecting families with caregivers across childcare, senior care, pet care, and housekeeping. Directly comparable to Sittr on the babysitter/nanny matching use case, with significantly broader geographic reach and category scope.
- Airtasker: Australian-listed general services marketplace. Not a childcare specialist, but a broad incumbent that captures adjacent household-services demand and could expand into or compete for babysitter category searches.
Direct peers
- Babysits: International babysitter marketplace operating across multiple countries including Australia. Direct head-to-head competitor on the parent/carer matching product, with similar verification, profiles, and per-booking messaging model.
- Sittercity: US-based marketplace for babysitters, nannies, and other caregivers with background-checked profiles. Closely aligned on the two-sided marketplace model, screening workflow, and per-engagement transaction model.
- UrbanSitter: US-focused babysitter marketplace leveraging social-graph signals (Facebook connections) between parents and sitters. Comparable on the sitter-matching value proposition, with a different trust mechanism but similar marketplace mechanics.
- Juggle Street: Australian parent-to-parent babysitter sharing platform that was a direct local competitor to Sittr in the same geography and use case, illustrating the contested nature of the Australian sitter-marketplace category.
Emerging players
- Koru Kids: UK-based childcare platform focused on nannies and babysitters with strong vetting and employer-of-record positioning. Comparable on the pre-screened childcare marketplace model with deeper compliance and employment infrastructure.
- Bubble: UK-based on-demand childcare platform that connected parents with vetted sitters. Closely aligned with Sittr's product-led on-demand babysitter marketplace model in a different geography.
Regional players
- Helpling: International household services marketplace primarily for cleaning but extending into adjacent home services. Comparable on the consumer marketplace mechanics and transaction-fee model, though focused on cleaning rather than childcare.
Others
- Family Day Care Australia: Australian sector body and information resource for licensed family day care. Not a marketplace, but a reference point for the licensed/regulated childcare ecosystem in which Sittr's carers operate.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Sittr social profiles
Digital presenceSittr financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Sittr leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Sittr funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Sittr M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Sittr
What does Sittr do?
Sittr operates an online two-sided marketplace that connects Australian parents with pre-screened, identity-verified babysitters and nannies across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide. The platform supports parent-initiated bookings and parent-posted jobs, runs on Stripe-backed escrow payments, and includes proprietary Public Liability and Professional Indemnity insurance and Senior First Aid verification for every carer. The platform takes a percentage of each completed booking rather than charging parents subscriptions or listing fees.
Is Sittr a public or private company?
Sittr is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Sittr founded?
Sittr was founded in 2014. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Sittr based?
Sittr is headquartered in Sydney, Australia, in the Oceania region.
How does Sittr make money?
One revenue line is on record: booking Transaction Fees.
Who are Sittr's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Care.com and Airtasker. Direct peers are Babysits, Sittercity, UrbanSitter and Juggle Street. Emerging players are Koru Kids and Bubble. Helpling is listed as a regional player. Family Day Care Australia is listed as an others.
Does Sittr have an API?
No public API is recorded for Sittr.
What industry is Sittr in?
Sittr's product category is Childcare Marketplace. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HSAAALAD, Temporary/On-Demand Babysitter Placement, with a secondary code of HSAAAAAA, Date Night & Evening Babysitting. Its NAICS code is 62441 and its SIC code is 8351.