Why We Invested Again: Joshin
As venture investors, we are always on the lookout for great examples of what is referred to as ‘founder-market fit’. Much like ‘product-market fit’, there isn’t a strict definition; instead, it is the label used when a founder has a mastery of the domain in which they are operating, coupled with a deep-rooted passion for the problem that they are solving. It has often been described as a ‘feeling’ rather than a simple yes/no answer, but you know when you’ve found it. In Melissa and Melanie, co-founders of Joshin, we have one of the strongest examples of founder-market fit out there — and we’re really happy to be backing them again as part of their Seed round.
Joshin was founded after Melissa’s and Melanie’s experience with their beloved brother Josh, who had epilepsy and developmental disabilities. Josh’s life inspired Melissa and Melanie to help families live their healthiest and happiest lives. Today, this lives on in the form of Joshin, a care marketplace focused on individuals and families that live with some form of special need. With Joshin, families tap into a pool of high-quality care providers and can easily communicate the needs of the person receiving care, through the individual’s Care Plan. Through the Joshin platform, specialised care is made easy.
One thing I can’t forget to mention: Joshin was our first remote-only investment. Looking back to January and February 2020, I remember that we had even arranged to meet in New York, to round off our diligence process and look each other in the eyes! We initially postponed — remember when we all thought it would blow over quickly? such optimists! — then eventually canceled. Of course, making investment decisions over Zoom has now become totally normal, but we were figuring it out as we went along and were grateful to the team for their patience.
When we first invested, Joshin was a mobile app and operating primarily in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Today, Joshin is now available on desktop and active across five cities in the United States, with plans to open in five more over the next 12 months. Joshin continues to conduct caregiver pre-screening, with matching and filtering based on specific needs. Building on the initial success of their Care Plan concept, the team is now in the process of partnering with other organisations in the special needs space, moving towards a more holistic set of care arrangements that go beyond a scheduled care date to a disability care ecosystem, creating a truly dynamic marketplace of providers and families.
One of the main learnings since the first round is that there is a much bigger opportunity here than we originally anticipated. In our first Investment Committee paper, we largely commented on the experiences lived by, and the opportunity to provide specialised care to, children. Without a doubt, this remains an important part of the business. However, following evaluation of data emerging from the platform, the Joshin team recognised early on that there is a significant age gap in the care space overall… with childcare ending at age 12 and elder care starting at age 65, nearly 50% of Joshin care recipients are between the ages of 18 and 64.
When conducting research before our first investment, we also relied too much on official statistics (this is often a problem when evaluating a category-creating company) such as those produced by governmental organisations such as the CDC and the Census Bureau. In reality, we later realised that the total addressable market of individuals with special needs is much larger than previously estimated: a large number of special needs conditions — still requiring care — often do not qualify under the American Census Survey’s definition of disability.
The broader ‘caretech’ landscape has been very active since our first investment. We believe that Joshin’s place in this ecosystem remains unique compared to other companies offering solutions for other settings, including housekeeping, childcare and pet sitting. Special needs offerings are often reduced to mere checkboxes on caregiver profiles. We — and the Joshin team — don’t believe that this is right… for families that require specialised care, this one-size-fits-all approach is far from ideal.
We’re excited to continue working with Melissa, Melanie and the rest of the amazing team at Joshin (they’re hiring!) as well as working with the teams at Autism Impact Fund, M25 and Cake Ventures.
