Camperoni

Camperoni operates a web platform that aggregates youth camp and school-break program listings in one searchable location, initially covering the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Parents create an account and use filters — age, camp dates, city, day length including overnight options, financial aid availability, registration status and registration links, plus dozens of interest categories such as dance, fishing, magic and photography — to identify programs that fit their schedule and budget. The company positions the product against a fragmented status quo in which camp information is scattered across individual provider websites and shared informally between parents, and in which registration deadlines often fall three to six months ahead of the session.

The founders frame the underlying problem as the roughly 65 days a year when school is out but working caregivers must still work, spanning summer break, winter break and scheduled days off. Camperoni gathers information camps already publish, adds new camps to its database on an ongoing basis, and records parents' click behavior to improve matching. Stated expansion plans include adding after-school activities and sports leagues and broadening into a hyperlocal marketplace for children's activities and scheduling needs.

Founding story

Erin Anderson encountered the difficulty of booking weekly summer camps after her daughter finished kindergarten, contending with easily missed registration deadlines and extensive paperwork. She connected with Meredith Englund, a startup mentor and parent of two facing the same issue; their children attend school together and they arrived at substantially the same idea for simplifying camp signups over lunch. The two formed the youth camp aggregator in June 2023, naming it Camperoni as a play on "camp" and "macaroni." Englund then recruited former colleague Vasilis "Tzikis" Georgitzikis, a technology entrepreneur without children of his own who had watched siblings arrange summer plans for nieces and nephews; he built the website prototype and later joined full-time as CTO.

Business model

Camperoni keeps its listings free for parents and for camp providers. Revenue is intended to come from premium subscriptions for camp providers seeking promotion via social media posts, newsletter highlights, blog features and sponsorships, and from premium parent subscriptions. As of February 2024 the company was pre-revenue with a premium subscription model still being defined.

Premium subscriptions sold to camp providers for promotional placement and sponsorship, plus tested paid parent subscriptions offering personalized alerts and reminders based on school district and home location; a concierge service in which Camperoni plans a family's camp schedule and sends calendar invitations was also being tested.

Traction

Registered users grew from under 1,000 in November 2023 to 5,000 by February 2024. Listings grew from more than 260 providers and more than 2,000 camp offerings in February 2024 to more than 6,000 camps from 340 providers by June 2024. The team consists of three founders plus a full-time associate and a group of contractors.

Latest developments

As of June 2024, Camperoni was building new website features, selecting the next metro areas to enter and onboarding camp providers in those markets ahead of registration season, testing premium parent subscriptions and a concierge planning service, and preparing to add after-school activities and sports leagues.