London-based childcare startup tiney has secured €8.3 million in a Series A round to increase the number of childminders across England. The funding was led by Mustard Seed + Partners, with participation from PortfoLion Capital Partners, Sparkmind.vc, and Rubio Impact Venture.
- Founded in 2019 by Brett Wigdortz OBE, Edd Read, John Newbold, and Stephanie Leung, tiney develops an app that supports the management of childminders' businesses. This includes features like processing invoices and taxes, creating lesson plans, receiving advice from the tiney's team, accessing marketing support, and engaging in peer support.
- The app also helps parents stay connected to their children through real-time notifications, daily updates, making payments, and booking childcare.
- tiney’s team consists of 50 employees from diverse fields, including education, childcare, safeguarding, technology, media, and customer service. To date, 1,000 childminders are already registered with tiney, with 500 more in training. The startup’s community provides early childhood education to over 5,000 children across the UK.
Details of the deal
- The funding was led by the UK investment firm Mustard Seed + Partners that invests in European startups that develop solutions to tackle the world's major environmental and social issues.
- The round also saw participation from Budapest-based PortfoLion Capital Partners, Helsinki-based Sparkmind.vc, and Amsterdam-based Rubio Impact Venture.
- The capital will help tiney provide affordable care to more parents, expand its operations across the country, and increase the number of childminders.
