[Life Chapter 3 Companies] 'Hyubris' Finds Care Jobs for Women with 'Mom Career' Experience

Jeon Chang-min, CEO of Hubris

According to Statistics Korea, as of the second half of 2021, the proportion of dual-income households among married couples with children under 18 in South Korea exceeds half, standing at 53.4%. In response, the government is expanding care centers and implementing policies such as babysitter services to alleviate the childcare difficulties faced by working parents. However, concerns about the 'care gap' persist. The problem is more severe in the Seoul metropolitan area, where the proportion of younger children is relatively high.

Jeon Chang-min, CEO of Hubris. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

Jeon Chang-min, CEO of Hubris (35), founded his company out of a sense of urgency regarding this care gap. When Asia Economy met him on the 13th in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, he said, "When I was working at a company, female colleagues told me it took a year to be assigned a babysitter after applying." He added, "I anticipated that a private care teacher matching service that people could trust and use would be well received in the market." Currently, Hubris operates 'Care Plus,' a home-care teacher matching service.

However, Hubris contributes to solving another issue beyond the care gap: creating jobs for senior women. So far, over 2,500 middle-aged and older women seeking work have earned money by providing childcare through Care Plus. The advantage is flexible working hours since they can work on an hourly basis. For example, one care teacher previously worked at a company related to baby products, retired, gained free time, pursued hobbies, was introduced to Care Plus through a women's workforce development center, received babysitter training, and has continued working since.

CEO Jeon explained, "The number of registered care teachers started at 200 in 2018 and now stands at about 25,000," adding, "We are simultaneously addressing the childcare gap in families and creating job opportunities for middle-aged and older women."

Jeon Chang-min, CEO of Hubris. Photo by Huh Young-han younghan@

- What did you do before starting the company, and why did you start it?

▲ I majored in computer engineering. I began my career in 2015 at the IT department of a large corporation's research institute. Female employees would often leave around 4 to 5 p.m. to make phone calls. It turned out they were calling around to find someone to pick up their children. I also heard from colleagues that applying for government-provided babysitter services required a one-year wait. I thought it was unreasonable for supply and demand to be so mismatched in this advanced era. That was when I first became aware of the problem.

The government encourages parental leave to create a society conducive to childbearing, and companies promote themselves externally as child-friendly workplaces. However, the actual industrial field is different. Some people cannot return to work because they are raising children, and many resign. I learned this through my wife, who worked in a corporate HR department. At the time of founding the company, I did not have children, but I decided to start the business thinking that if I ever had children, I would face the same problems.

I quit my job after about a year of working. I wanted to start the company immediately after quitting but lacked startup funds. I saved money by doing outsourced development work. After saving about 50 million KRW, I founded the company in 2018 with two juniors from school. Leaving a stable job was not easy, but I felt I had to challenge myself while still young to avoid regrets.

- Please explain Hubris's Care Plus service.

▲ It is a platform that matches families needing childcare with care teachers and charges a commission. Parents register on the application, input their child's information, and set the required care hours, and the system connects them with suitable teachers. Consumers pay 13,000 KRW per hour for basic care services. Additional services such as bathing the child or preparing baby food require extra payment. The company takes about a 10% commission from the payment. When starting the business, there was no domestic model to refer to, so we benchmarked platforms like the U.S. babysitter intermediary 'UrbanSitter.'

- What are the benefits of using Care Plus?

▲ Matching through job sites or referrals does not allow for managing the teachers' capabilities. Many people cannot find good caregivers for this reason. Under the Care Plus system, teachers can be evaluated, enabling quality control. When parents register, they input information about their child, and the system connects them with a suitable teacher. For example, if a child is active, the system recommends teachers who have received good evaluations caring for active children. We also verify childcare teaching experience upon registration, and those without such experience must undergo prior training.

- To register as a care teacher, one must be an adult woman. Why are most teachers matched to families in their 40s to 60s?

▲ Care Plus targets children aged 0 to 5. The parents entrusting their young children are mostly in their 20s and 30s. They tend to prefer caregivers in their 40s to 60s who have 'mother experience' rather than peers. Many of these are retired childcare teachers. From the parents' perspective, they want someone who has already raised young children and can offer advice.

- Is there high demand? What is the user composition?

▲ About 1,000 to 1,100 households use the service monthly. Currently, the service is provided only in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, with Seoul users accounting for 80%. Although the main target is children aged 0 to 5, some users entrust elementary school students. In 2020, when the pandemic began, sales increased about sixfold because parents had to work while childcare centers and academies were often closed. It was difficult to meet the demand.

- How much do you want to grow the company? What are your sales targets and investment plans?

▲ Besides myself, there are 13 employees. We have received investment four times so far. The most recent investment was at the end of last year, when we received 2 billion KRW in valuation from Korea Social Investment and secured a Pre-A series investment (the stage after seed investment). We plan to raise more investment at the end of this month. Our sales target for this year is 3 billion KRW, combining B2C and B2G.

- What are your future plans?

▲ Recently, we directly hired five care teachers. This was a pilot project responding to demands for employment stability. These employees provide not only care but also housekeeping services, allowing them to increase their income accordingly. We plan to increase the number of directly hired staff. Starting next month, we will also operate a group purchase corner linking consumers to product sales. Since consumers upload information such as their child's height and weight upon registration, we can recommend suitable products. This is possible because the database on children is continuously being built. Furthermore, beyond being a care teacher matching platform for parents, we want to develop services for mothers. We also plan to continue increasing investment to enhance our services.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.