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Koru Kids

Outstanding childcare for modern families

21-100 employees
  • Marketplace
  • Education
  • Marketing
  • Childcare
  • Social Impact
London (HQ), United Kingdom, 128 City Rd

Company mission

Koru Kids mission is making it easier and more affordable for families to access high quality childcare.

Top investors

Most candidates hear
back within 2 weeks

55% female employees

14% employee growth in 12 months

Otta's take

Xav Kearney headshot

Xav Kearney

CTO of Otta

The childcare sector in the UK is under pressure, with prices rising and nurseries closing down. The way of finding nannies hasn't seen innovation in decades, and there hasn't been an introduction of technology to drive great experiences.

Koru Kids has focused on after-school childcare, allowing them to hone their product and solve one of the most neglected areas. This is specifically important in major cities like London, where parents are often working longer hours.

The business takes out all the hassle of finding a nanny. The solution isn't simply technology: Koru Kids also interviews, trains and references its nannies, and takes care of contracts, holiday pay and taxes. This operational complexity builds a competitive advantage.

When aiming to create the best childcare service in the world, quality will always remain important. Koru Kids has made sure to grow carefully. The company boasts a strict process and low acceptance rates, to ensure standards remain high.

Benefits

  • 50% off Koru Kids childcare. up to a value of £7,000 per year as a taxable benefit
  • 25 days holiday (plus bank holidays)
  • Work from home opportunities. We're a remote-first company and welcome applications from anywhere in the UK
  • Potential for share option equity
  • Macbook and home office allowance
  • Video therapy sessions through Spill, to support positive mental health

Company values

  • Put families first
  • Use time wisely
  • Understand, don't overthink
  • Be humble. Be human
  • Open up

Funding (last 2 of 3 rounds)

Aug 2019

$12.6m

SERIES A

May 2018

$4.4m

SEED

$17.8m

Total funding

This company has top investors

Founders

Previously CEO of DrThom, a healthcare company which I grew to 1.3 million paying users in 3 countries. Before that they spent six years at McKinsey. Have a DPhil from Oxford, where they were a Rhodes Scholar.

People progressing

Started as an Ops Generalist, moved into matching and customer support, grew into the matching lead, transitioned into a junior product management role and now a product manager!

Started as an Ops Generalist in recruitment and matching, became a senior associate, promoted into a growth executive to launch a new product, promoted to an operations manager to launch another

Diversity & Inclusion at Koru Kids

  • We will treat others with humility, respect and dignity at all times.
  • We treat all people we interact with fairly and ethically, from our nannies to our families to our suppliers, partners and anyone else we come into contact with.
  • We seek to identify and select a diverse set of employees and provide a fair and inclusive working environment with equal opportunities for all employees, regardless of background.
  • All employees, no matter whether they are part-time, full-time, or temporary, will be treated fairly and with respect.
  • We will work to create an environment in which individual differences and the contributions of all team members are recognised and valued
  • We will strive to create an inclusive product with algorithms that don't exclude or reinforce biases and unfairness we see in the world
  • When Koru Kids selects candidates for employment, promotion, training, or any other benefit, it will be on the basis of their aptitude and ability

Endorsements

All

Meaningful work (5)

Intelligent people (4)

Autonomy (3)

Inspiring mission (3)

Challenging work (2)

Open and honest communication (2)

Growing fast (2)

Opportunities to learn (1)

Nice people (1)

Hard working team (1)

Everyone at Koru Kids is incredibly hard-working, across each team. It's inspiring to work with people who are so dedicated to doing a great job. People clearly care about what we're doing.

Operations & Strategy

Hard working team

Sep 2021

We're genuinely trying to make life easier for working parents and that's at the heart of everything we do. We also want to provide top class childcare, and that's a great thing to be spending your time on.

Operations & Strategy

Meaningful work

Sep 2021

There's a lot of transparency between colleagues, and I can bring my whole self to work. It's an informal work environment, which I feel brings the best out in me. We're really honest about how we're performing and the challenges we face to meet our goals.

Operations & Strategy

Open and honest communication

Sep 2021

Koru Kids is a fast growing start-up. There is always something to learn as we are all discovering new markets together. My role as a Policy & Compliance Lead is very diverse and I get to learn new things every day!

Finance, Legal & Compliance

Opportunities to learn

Jun 2021

Management is really trustful. I get to take my own decisions, organise my workload and workday as I want.

Finance, Legal & Compliance

Autonomy

Jun 2021

Making childcare accessible and affordable in the UK is a great mission. If you are a parent out there you will know how difficult and expensive it is to find a great nanny! I have met so many parents as play sessions who are not returning to work because childcare is to expensive that I feel very lucky to be able to work for an organisation that is trying to tackle this issue!

Finance, Legal & Compliance

Inspiring mission

Jun 2021

Literally everyone is smart. No exceptions! It's a pleasure to interact with people who are just really clever every day.

Product

Intelligent people

Jun 2021

The Koru Kids mission is really inspiring: to help families flourish. We work a lot on child development, figuring out how to help kids have positive mental health their whole lives long. We also do a lot to make great careers in childcare, so that our nannies and childminders have much better options than they do at the moment. And we are building better childcare infrastructure so that parents don't get left out of leadership positions throughout society -- this particularly affects women. There are so many great parts to our mission!

Product

Meaningful work

Jun 2021

At Koru Kids there is a deep trust in the team. From Day 1 you can do things, change things, make decisions. You're given the data and transparency you need to put you in the best possible place to make decisions. There is very little second guessing (someone might ask you for your rationale but that's about it) and being proactive and creative is applauded and rewarded

Product

Autonomy

Jun 2021

At Koru Kids everyone has the freedom and is trusted to make decisions. You don't ever need to go through layers of approval and if you make a mistake that's totally fine. Fast decision making is very much encouraged!

Marketing

Autonomy

Jun 2021

Everyone at Koru Kids is super smart (but also humble). I have learnt so much from my colleagues. As well as being smart, everyone also really cares about their work and our mission.

Marketing

Intelligent people

Jun 2021

I've never worked somewhere more open. The exec team do an open Q&A every single week. People are constantly encouraged to share their opinion, and it is really valued.

Marketing

Open and honest communication

Jun 2021

The onboarding at Koru Kids has been really seamless. The hiring process itself was really unique and enjoyable (which is unique in itself) and my hiring manager has laid out clear expectations while giving me plenty of time to familiarise myself with the company. There was lots of information to take in but lots of 1:1 meetings with people around the company helped me settle in.

Marketing

Thoughtful onboarding

Jun 2021

We're doing something that's truly important – revolutionising childcare so that parents can get back to work. As a parent myself, the mission at Koru Kids really resonates with me.

Marketing

Inspiring mission

Jun 2021

Koru Kids puts a lot of effort into their hiring process and the result is a collection of really smart, interesting people. I don't think I've ever joined a team as intelligent and driven.

Marketing

Intelligent people

Jun 2021

We have access to lots of data, and it's up to us to figure out how to reach are very ambitious target. We are always pushed to think about how to do things faster, and to a better standard.

Marketing

Challenging work

Jun 2021

Our mission is incredibly important. Childcare is woefully underfunded by our government, and we're building a system that supports parents.

Marketing

Meaningful work

Jun 2021

We operate in a high trust environment. No one is clock watching. Parents go to pick their kids up or put them to bed. Everyone gets the job done. No one is watching over your shoulder.

Marketing

Flexible working

Jun 2021

I love working at Koru Kids because we are solving real problems for real people. Not only we are making childcare easier to access for everybody, but we're also providing hundreds of jobs for students and new parents that might otherwise struggle to conciliate their career and personal life.

Operations & Strategy

Meaningful work

Jun 2021

The people at Koru Kids are incredible! I haven't met a single person that wasn't kind, hardworking and considerate of everyone - from the CEO to the interns. Everyone is also very talented and passionate about our mission.

Operations & Strategy

Nice people

Jun 2021

Koru Kids is growing so fast! Especially working on our new product (Home Nursery) it's clear how much we're growing and will keep doing it. Every day is filled with new challenges and incredible rewards.

Operations & Strategy

Growing fast

Jun 2021

Koru Kids is just full of really nice, really smart people that enjoy their work. We're building something that society really needs, and that's super rewarding too.

Operations & Strategy

Growing fast

Jun 2021

Working hours are flexible, there's a great staff benefit - a 50% discount on nannies, and loads of the team are parents themselves, so they totally get it.

Operations & Strategy

Family friendly

Jun 2021

Everything moves quickly and we have really ambitious targets. There's a great culture of quick feedback which helps you quickly grow and improve!

Operations & Strategy

Challenging work

Jun 2021

Put simply, the UK and the world desperately needs flexible and affordable childcare. For both families sanities, childrens happiness and womens careers it's one of the major missing pieces of modern society. And I believe KK has a very believable plan to be leader in this area.

Product

Meaningful work

Jun 2021

The UK and the world desperately needs flexible and affordable childcare. For families sanities, childrens happiness and womens careers it's one of the major missing pieces of modern society.

Product

Inspiring mission

Jun 2021

People who like a challenge and like thinking deeply love KK. Everyone is very humble and welcomes critique or feedback. We have access to a data and research set of a depth that would make a much larger company jealous. All in all, just such a smart team!

Product

Intelligent people

Jun 2021

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