Imagine pulling a complete blank when your children ask for suggestions to spend their spare time when trips to the park and the usual places don’t count. That is what happened to Vishal Gupta when his sons – aged nine and five – asked him for an alternative, leading to the genesis of Mycity4kids. The website provides listings for all programmes and initiatives targeted at children under the age group of 14 years and also works as a portal for booking group activities for a cheerful bunch.
Delhi-based Vishal Gupta started small with listings for the Delhi and NCR region in October 2010 and expanded it to include listings for Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune in quick succession.
The venture was started by a team of three, including Vishal Gupta who has worked for Aviva, Hindustan Union Lever (HUL) and Asian Paints in participation with co-founders Asif Mohamed, an IIT Delhi alumni and Prashant Sinha, his colleague from Aviva. The trio based out of Delhi, decided to trade-in their corporate careers to help parents explore fun options in the city for their children. The online e-commerce portal Mycity4kids lists everything a parent might need to occupy their children’s time. It has an exhaustive list of services and events including day-care centres, pre-schools, after-school activities, recreational workshops, entertainment activities, birthday and party-planners, places to shop for children.
The portal also lists a health and wellness section where one can find pediatricians, orthodontists, ante-natal care experts and yoga teachers in their own backyard.
“There is an emphasis on overall development of the child today and through our website parents have a choice in deciding what activities they want to expose their child to,” says Vishal Gupta who is the managing director of the portal.
Registration is free for parents trying to access information about music classes, play schools, tennis lessons and can also interact with other members and rely on the feedback from other parents who have availed of a particular service. The website also allows for booking tickets for events through by blocking it online and picking up the reservations at the event on payment of cash. “The website supports itself financially through the revenues it generates through booking for events and funding from YourNest, an angel fund which has seen us through from inception. We collect a small percentage towards advertising charges from the service providers besides which, getting an activity or school listed on the site is free,” adds Vishal Gupta.
There are about 50,000 service providers listed on the website of which 5500 are located across Hyderabad. Each listing incorporates a contact number, e-mail address, relevant age groups, dates for the events and ratings as well as the location through Google Maps.
The site has safeguards against fake services through a verification process which runs a background check on every listing and profiles it for reference.
“We plan to expand in 16 more cities in the next year and are also going to launch a blog called ‘Parenting Stop’ next week for parents who want to write about their experiences,” adds Gupta of his future plans for the website.
Details: mycity4kids.com