Nearly half of parents in England have reported borrowing money or using savings to cover childcare costs in the last year. Faced with escalating fees, 1 in 10 mothers have exited the workforce. At the same time, nursery closures increased by 50% in 2023, as providers struggle to cover their own costs. The team behind tiney, a UK-based tech-enabled childcare startup believes re-invigorating the childminding market could solve this crisis.
In a recent development, tiney has raised £7.2 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Mustard Seed Partners and joined by PortfoLion, Sparkmind, and Rubio.
With this, the total funding raised by tiney to date accounts for £19 million. The company plans to use the funds to cement its position as the largest recruiter of childminders nationwide, reverse the nationwide decline in childminding numbers, and offer more parents across the country affordable, local care in a home-from-home environment.
An app to monitor children
Founded in 2019 by Teach First founder Brett Wigdortz OBE, Graze co-founder Edd Read, and design entrepreneur John Newbold, tiney recruits, trains, and supports ‘micro-entrepreneurs’ to retrain as childminders and open childcare settings at home; helping to meet the acute demand for affordable, high-quality early years education across England.
tiney operates via its designed tech-led support structures which foster community and an app which eliminates the administrative burdens of running a childcare business. This includes processing invoices, handling taxes, and ensuring they remain compliant with Ofsted regulation.
Childminders can also access marketing support, business advice, lesson plans, peer support, and advice from the tiney team, all through the app. Parents are also able to book childcare, make payments, and monitor their child’s development through the tech.
tiney’s childminders are able to offer the highest-quality early years care at an affordable rate for parents. As per the company, childmaking is nearly 15% cheaper than nursery.
Fast growing company
Since launch, tiney has recruited a new generation of diverse talent into the childcare sector. In 2023, 42% of tiney’s recruits came from non-education related backgrounds, including law, dentistry, retail, design, and finance. tiney was responsible for recruiting more than 40% of all new childminders in England in the second half of 2023.
With over 1,000 childminders registered and hundreds more currently in training, the tineycommunity currently provides early years education to more than 5,400 children across England. This makes the company the equivalent of the 7th largest nursery chain in the country. As per the company, it has become the largest childminder agency in England.
Brett Wigdortz, CEO of tiney and founder of TeachFirst, commented: “The first years of a child’s development are absolutely crucial for shaping their long-term educational trajectory. Early years educators play an enormous role in this, but astronomical costs and provider shortages have robbed too many families of access to high quality care. That’s why we’re working to reverse the decline in childminder numbers – the most affordable form of childcare – and champion those who want to pursue a hugely rewarding role. Our success is proof that there’s a huge appetite for careers in early years when the right support is on offer. We’re finding the next generation of childminders and securing the futures of the next generation of children.”
Stanislas de Joussineau, Co-Managing Partner at Mustard Seed Partners added: “Solving the childcare crisis will have huge benefits for the next generation, as well as the wider economy. We believe that tiney is already demonstrating the impact that cutting-edge technology combined with a passion to improve early years can have. They are single-handedly driving up childminder numbers across England and attracting a whole new cohort of talent into the early years space. We’re looking forward to partnering with them as they continue to scale.”
