Fintech & e-commerce Retail and Direct To Consumer

Exclusive: Nestig Cuddles Up With $1.3M Seed For Nursery Brand

Nestig is giving modern parents a nursery brand that fits their style and now has $1.3 million in seed funding, led by ONEVC and a group of angel investors, to expand its product line.

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Guilherme Picciotto and Sara Adam Slywka launched the direct-to-consumer company in August 2020 after meeting in Columbia University’s MBA program. Nestig offers five models of modular cribs, priced starting at $449, and most can be converted into a bassinet and a toddler bed depending on need.

Picciotto, who recently became a father himself, was a venture capitalist in Brazil before coming to the United States for his MBA. Adam Slywka has a background in e-commerce marketing, working in Amazon’s baby registry division, as well as spent some time with Diapers.com.

“This is such an emotional space,” CEO Picciotto told Crunchbase News. “Parents go through so much, so if you can give them a good experience, they love you.”

Due to parents planning ahead with purchases like cribs, Nestig, which manages its supply chain business in Brazil and operations team in New York, is able to be innovative in its production and shipping, essentially making the cribs as they are ordered.

“When compared to other direct-to-consumer brands, it is an efficient way to use capital,” Picciotto added. “We have been generating cash since Day One, which enables us to raise new rounds and expand the business.”

Nestig’s Wave crib

About 4 million babies are born in the United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control, which means companies have nearly that many new customers annually to get their products in front of. Meanwhile, Forbes estimated in 2019 that the U.S. babytech market size was about $46 billion, and reported that investors had pumped some $500 million in funding into companies within the sector since 2013.

In just seven months of operation, word-of-mouth has driven much of the growth of the company, Adam Slywka said in an interview. The company reached $5 million in annual revenue during that time and is selling more than 800 cribs per month, selling out of its “Wave” model the first month.

The new funding will enable the company to expand into new categories, including the recent launch of  washable organic cotton rugs. Nestig has six employees, and Picciotto expects to double that by the end of the year on both the supply chain and operations sides.

“The nursery is a fun room,” Adam Slywka said. “Every time we post a picture on Instagram, people are asking where we found the rug or the chair. We want them to be inspired by the shopping experience, the products and start to build the entire room.”

Nestig’s traction and market fit were the factors that impressed ONEVC, according to General Partner Arthur Brennand.

He also believes they can be a category-defining company.

“No brand dominates share-of-mind in the nursery and we believe there is an opportunity to create one,” Brennand said via email. “It was an easy decision to partner with Nestig. They have an amazing combination to make this company succeed, they are a world-class team with expertise in furniture commerce, baby products, supply chain, branding and scaling businesses. We were very impressed with how huge and poorly served the market was, and we really believe in Nestig becoming a destination brand for the nursery.”

Feature photo of Sara Adam Slywka and Guilherme Picciotto and inset Wave crib photo courtesy of Nestig.
Blogroll illustration: Dom Guzman

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