The social start-up sira was founded in Munich in 2012 by Christina Ramgraber and David Siekaczek with the aim of supporting companies in setting up and organizing company childcare. And despite the Corona pandemic and the ongoing shortage of skilled workers, they will have 130 employees* at 41 locations by the end of 2023.
Christina Ramgraber also explains that they have now been able to successfully expand their business model to include the target group of municipalities, cities and communities, in addition to medium-sized to larger employers. They are no longer only represented in Bavaria, but also in North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg. The city of Cologne, for example, has commissioned sira to build a total of 17 new childcare sites by 2026.
Financially, sira currently has no need for capital, as it is financed entirely from ongoing sales and investments from cooperation partners, landlords or public daycare expansion programs.
In the beginning, as "rookies", we naturally benefited greatly from the support opportunities and contact with other startups. We were in support programs at the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE) at Munich University of Applied Sciences and at the Social Entrepreneurship Academy, where we also took advantage of training opportunities for founders, for example. With our business model, we naturally also benefit greatly from Munich's economic dynamism and diverse business landscape.
Click here to visit the sira website.
To read the full interview, click here to read the Munich Startup article.
Photo by Regina Ziegler / Sira
Interview: Saskia Doll/ Munich Startup