Mitra Raman, CEO of Seattle startup Rosie, was inspired to create the company after realizing she wanted to spend more time with her son instead of doing household chores. This moment sparked the idea for Rosie, which sends caregivers into homes to do a mix of childcare and household work.
Raman co-founded the company with Chief Operating Officer Karthika Shankar, who spent over 12 years at Amazon. They saw a gap in the market between dedicated childcare and housekeeping, and wanted to give parents a “mom body double” to free up time for more important things.
Rosie serves nearly 300 families in the Seattle area with a team of over 100 caregivers, who are called Pros. The company has raised $7 million across two rounds led by Bling Capital and Reach Capital, and plans to use the funding to fuel its growth and expansion.
Expansion Plans
Rosie plans to launch in Austin in early 2027, followed by San Francisco later in the year. The company chose these cities because they have a mix of tech-friendly, dual-income families, and nearby universities where Rosie can recruit Pros.
The founders believe that Austin is a good fit for Rosie because it has a different demographic than Seattle, with more people relying on cars rather than public transit. This will change how Pros get to families, and Rosie is hiring an in-person city general manager in Austin to oversee the launch.
Rosie’s service works by having families buy a monthly membership, which can range from $250 for 8 hours to $750 for 24 hours. Families can then book same-day help through the app or by text, and can add their favorite Pros to a “bench” of regulars.
The company uses AI to help with logistics, keeping track of each family’s routines and preferences, and handling matching and scheduling behind the scenes. However, the founders are deliberate about where they use AI, and only apply it where it clearly saves time or can be about 99% sure it’s right.
Rosie’s Pros go through a rigorous vetting process, which includes an online intake, identity verification, background checks, and reference checks. They also undergo an in-person assessment at Rosie’s office, where they fold laundry, load a dishwasher, and work through childcare scenarios.
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Rosie is now testing virtual assessments as it scales, and is hiring a senior software engineer and a “forward deployed engineer” for operations to help with the launch in new cities. The goal is to have 100% AI-managed matching and scheduling with a small, deliberate human-in-the-loop.
Rosie’s workforce model is based on independent contractors, who are paid per session through the company’s app. The company sets what families pay and what Pros earn, and matches Pros with families based on their preferences and availability.
According to Raman, Rosie’s Pros have “full flexibility to decide what they do, what session they take, when they take it.” The company’s pay is set by an algorithm that weighs factors including the length of a session, the number of children, and the type of work.
Pros can earn anywhere from a couple hundred dollars a week to $500 to $1,000 a week, depending on the number of sessions they take on. Recent job listings in the Seattle area have advertised $22 to $24 an hour, plus bonuses.
The company’s expansion plans are driven by its goal to provide a reliable and trustworthy service to families.
Rosie’s approach to expansion is neighborhood-by-neighborhood, starting with areas where it expects to find its first Pros. This approach allows the company to build a strong foundation and establish a presence in each neighborhood before expanding further.
Workforce and Operations
The company’s operations are supported by a team of software engineers and operations staff. Rosie is hiring a senior software engineer and a forward deployed engineer to help with the launch in new cities and to develop its AI-powered matching and scheduling system.
Rosie’s AI system, called Jetson, is designed to handle the logistics of matching families with Pros and scheduling sessions.