The creator of Teach First founded the tech-enabled childcare firm tiney.co, which has raised a €8.3 million Series A round led by Mustard Seed Partners and including Rubio, Sparkmind, PortfoLion, and Rubio. In order to help fulfill the urgent need for accessible, high-quality early childhood education across England, Tiney finds, prepares, and supports “micro-entrepreneurs” who want to retrain as childminders and start childcare facilities at home.

In England, almost half of parents say they had borrowed money or depleted savings to pay for daycare in the past year. Ten out of every ten mothers have left the employment due to rising costs. In 2023, there was a 50% rise in nursery closures due to providers’ inability to meet their own expenses. The creators of tiney think that this situation could be resolved by reviving the childminding industry.

Tiny childminders are able to provide parents with the best early years care at a cost that is reasonable for them because of the relatively low overhead costs associated with operating a childminding setting (childminding is 15% less expensive than nursery, on average). and simultaneously manage a prosperous business. On average, early years professionals registered with Tieny make 17% more than those directly registered with Ofsted, and the majority make at least what a teacher would make.

Established in 2019 by Brett Wigdortz OBE, co-founder of Graze, John Newbold, a design entrepreneur, and Teach First founder, Teach First, tiney has quickly expanded to become the biggest childminder agency in England. More than 5,400 children in England receive early childhood education from the tiney community, which now has over 1,000 registered childminders and hundreds more in training. As a result, the business is comparable to the nation’s seventh-largest chain of nurseries.

Since its launch, Tiny has brought in a fresh wave of diverse talent to the childcare industry. In 2023, 42% of Tiney’s hires had backgrounds unrelated to education, such as banking, law, dentistry, retail, and design. In the second half of 2023, Tiney was in charge of hiring over 40% of all new nannies in England.

Tiny has created tech-driven support networks that promote community and an app that takes care of the administrative hassles of managing a daycare center. Childminders frequently leave the industry due to feelings of loneliness and the belief that their occupation is low status. This entails managing taxes, processing invoices, and making sure they continue to adhere to Ofsted regulations. Through the app, childminders may also get peer assistance, business guidance, lesson plans, marketing support, and advice from the tiney team. Through technology, parents may also pay for daycare, schedule time for their child, and keep an eye on their growth.

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.”

With this raise, Tiny has received £19 million in fundraising overall. With the help of this additional funding, Tiny hopes to maintain its position as the nation’s leading childminder recruitment agency, stop the fall in the number of childminders countrywide, and provide more parents with accessible, local child care in a home-from-home setting.

The co-managing partner at Mustard Seed Partners, Stanislas de Joussineau, continued, saying, “The next generation and the wider economy will benefit greatly from solving the childcare crisis.” We think tiney is already proving the power of combining state-of-the-art technology with a drive to enhance early childhood education. They are the only ones increasing the number of childminders in England and drawing in a whole new pool of talent for the early years sector. As they expand, we are excited to work with them as a partner.