27. Tiney.co

Founders: Brett Wigdortz OBE, Edd Read, and John Newbold
Founded: 2018
Website: tiney.co

You may be at the stage where parenthood sounds appealing, until the voice in your head screams “in this economy?!” You’re not alone. Even before the cost of living crisis, the childcare cost crisis in the UK was already profound.

Tiney.co is hoping to flip this grim script by innovatively fuelling the childminding market. The business aim is to “transform childcare by training up a tech-powered army of early years educators and helping them open childcare settings in their own homes”, according to Brett Wigdortz OBE, its founder and CEO.

Tiney.co tackles this challenge on two fronts. On the one hand, it provides both online and in-person resources for people to train as childminders and help set up a nursery in their own home. On the other, it connects them to parents looking for this service, providing a more economical approach to traditional childcare. Linking the two is its cutting-edge app, which serves both as a knowledge platform and an agency.

Childminders are important educators, and the work they do has a major impact on the fortunes of the next generation.

This is particularly important in the current economic climate. For grim context, some 66% of respondents of a March 2022 survey conducted by campaign groups Pregnant Then Screwed and Mumsnet said they were paying as much or more for their childcare than for their rent or mortgage.

“Childminders are important educators, and the work they do has a major impact on the fortunes of the next generation,” says Wigdortz.

“In five years, I hope that Tiney.co has raised their status and, in doing so, ensured more children can benefit from an incredible early years education that sets them up for a lifetime of success.”

With a goal like that, we can’t wait to see the company’s growth eclipsing its own name.