AKRON, Ohio – When Komae founders Amy Husted and Audrey Wallace announced in April their popular babysitting and pet sitting co-op app was shutting down, they thought their dream had ended.

“We got to a point in the fall of 2018 that we just weren’t hitting the metrics and getting the traction we needed to get appropriate investment to keep growing it,” Husted said. “Out of respect for those who were working on the project and our families, we decided it was time to let it go.”

But just days after announcing the app would end service for its 19,000 account holders on May 30, the Akron-based duo received several emails from competitors interested in acquiring the company. The email that stood out to Husted and Wallace was from Erin Beck, founder of Los Angeles, Wana Family Network, a California-based babysitting co-op.

Beck agreed to acquire Komae’s assets, but keep Husted and Wallace on her team to continue to grow what they started. Beck declined to share financial details of the acquisition.

The Komae app is still available to customers. In the coming weeks, the app’s branding will shift from “Komae” to “Komae powered by Wana,” Husted said. Though no set timeline has been established, Husted said the brand will likely transition to the Wana brand in the next 6 to 12 months.

“We are overjoyed that something we thought we had to let go is actually something that is being brought back and brought back stronger than it was before,” Husted said.

Beck was interested in acquiring Komae because the company is twice as old as Wana, Komae was significantly ahead of Wana in terms of technology development and Komae’s product is more attractive than comparable solutions for the problem in the market, she said.

Beck was also enamored with Komae’s ability to attract users and market their product.

“I come from a technology background,” Beck said. “Previously I was a mission director for SpaceX, I’m a systems engineer, and marketing is not my strong point. So something I was certainly hoping for in teaming up with Komae was gaining that marketing expertise from them.”

Through the acquisition process, Beck really hit it off with Husted, and asked her to serve as the chief marketing officer (CMO) of Wana.

As a result of the acquisition, the company will have dual headquarters, with Beck heading up the executive and technical team in Los Angeles and Husted leading the sales and marketing team in Akron.

Wallace, who recently accepted a position with the Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce as senior director of marketing, will serve as an adviser for Wana.

“Now, we are building this company in the Midwest and the West Coast, and using the best of what both networks have to offer in order to grow quicker and stronger and better together,” Husted said. “It’s going to make us all the more able to do what we set out to do.”

Beck’s team, in addition to herself, includes two developers, a designer, a social impact analyst, five interns and four advisers — manpower that she thinks, when coupled with Komae’s marketing expertise, will be a great combination for taking the product forward.

“It is an exciting and wonderful thing to be a part of a project like this, not just because of the impact you’re making, but because of the people you’re working with,” Beck said. “The Wana team has grown over the last six months with Audrey coming in as an adviser and Amy as CMO. I feel every day I am coming to work because I simply love the people I am working with. When I look at our team now I say this is it, we have everything we need to take this all the way.”

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