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Tiney

Digital marketplace for childcare

21-100 employees
  • B2C
  • Marketplace
  • Education
  • Training
  • Learning
  • Toys
  • Childcare
  • Kids
Lincoln House, 296-302 High Holborn London WC1V 7JH

Company mission

Tiney's mission is to enable affordable childcare for parents, high-quality early education for children and amazing careers for childminders.

Insights

B Corporation
Rocket List 2021
Top investors

Most candidates hear
back within 2 weeks

50% female employees

9% employee growth in 12 months

Otta's take

Theo Margolius headshot

Theo Margolius

COO of Otta

Finding childcare is often a difficult and costly process and there is a declining number of childminders across the UK, with limited talent development and lack of a clear path in this area. Tiney's platform provides training, onboarding, development, and ongoing support for childminders.

For those seeking childcare the company helps to tackle three key issues of discovery, trust and affordability. Tiney is transforming the perception of early-years care to be thought of as early-years education and the training they provide reflects this change.

The company is not only enhancing access to great childcare but is also improving early years education and providing educators a pathway to build their careers in childcare. As well as this, Tiney is growing rapidly; after expanding to Manchester and Yorkshire in 2022, it has now grown to operate across the whole of England.

Benefits

  • 28 days annual leave, with an additional 'First Month Reflection Day' which aims to give you an additional day off to rest and reflect on your first month at Tiney
  • Regular team events and socials (remote/in-person)
  • Access to private therapy through the Self Space, training for mental health first aiders, and access to counseling
  • £5,000 of childcare through a Tiney childminder for parents returning to work (approx. 4 months of free full-time childcare)
  • Life insurance, sickness cover, and 3% pension contribution
  • Stock Options & quarterly feedback conversations
  • We'll kit your home office out with equipment up to the value of £2,000
  • Remote First

Company values

  • Every day we can earn trust - We believe it's important to build trust within our team and with our wonderful community.
  • Rest is rocket fuel - We offer 28 days annual leave, with an additional 'First Month Reflection Day' because starting a new role is a big life change and you don't tend to want to request holiday early on. At tiney, we encourage 'defaulting to transparency' in everything we do and so this really helps people switch off and refuel.
  • Play is a super power - We all get together in person every quarter to relax, socialise and reset.
  • Curious minds see more - We encourage everyone to ask questions and challenge our current processes. We also have a learning and development budget that everyone has access to.
  • Asking for help shows wisdom, not weakness - Mental health is the same as physical illness. We want to create an environment where people feel empowered to talk about it. We offer everyone access to therapy, training for mental health first aiders and access to counselling.
  • You grow stronger after a fall - We believe in the importance of making mistakes and think that these should be viewed as learning opportunities.

Funding (2 rounds)

Jan 2020

$6.3m

SEED

Jan 2019

$1.4m

SEED

$7.7m

Total funding

This company has top investors

Founders

Founded Teach First in 2002 and was CEO for 15 years before founding Tiney.

Previously CTO and co-founder of graze.com where he worked for 9 years.

Founded 383, one of the UK's top Digital Product Studios and also works as a UK Angel Investor.

People progressing

🚀 Emily joined tiney back at the end of 2020 as a sales advisor and has since progressed in our growth team through onboarding manager and now leads the whole process as Head of Onboarding

🚀 Lucy was promoted to Head of Sales and Marketing in October 2023 after joining us in the summer of 2020 in our sales team and is also the queen of our social media campaigns

🚀 Joining us in 2022 as QA and registration Lead. With his incredible commitment and enthusiasm, it was evident that Marc was truly deserving of his promotion in Feb 2024 to Head of Quality

Diversity & Inclusion at Tiney

Lucy Devine headshot

Lucy Devine (Head of People)

Endorsements

All

Meaningful work (5)

Inspiring mission (4)

My opinions are valued (2)

Supportive management (2)

Diversity is a priority (2)

Family friendly (2)

Challenging work (1)

Opportunities to learn (1)

Intelligent people (1)

Team energy (1)

I joined tiney because of their vision and ethos. I've thoroughly enjoyed my experience so far working for tiney - the team are extremely passionate about tiney's mission, and it's inspiring to be a part of a company striving to improve the childminding sector.

Operations & Strategy

Inspiring mission

Nov 2020

tiney's values are very clear and I love how they play a key role in both customer interactions and the company culture. They keep the team aligned and focused and play an important part in the onboarding process as well.

Operations & Strategy

Clear values

Nov 2020

From the moment I started at tiney, I felt that I had all the support I needed to ensure I was able to learn quickly and start having an impact within the company. My manager is really supportive, taking the time to get to know me and answer any questions I may have to help me grow within my role and team.

Operations & Strategy

Supportive management

Nov 2020

I feel confident enough to put forward ideas and every idea is considered and recognsied fairly. It enables me to feel valued in this company, even as a more junior member of staff.

Operations & Strategy

My opinions are valued

Nov 2020

We are trying to create something amazing and every person working in this company is driving towards that mission. It's an amazing feeling to be apart of something where you are making a difference. The positivity and comradery that comes with this is what I was searching for.

Operations & Strategy

Inspiring mission

Nov 2020

The work that has gone in to this and is still going in to this is fantastic. Also the honesty about how far we have to go still. We have recently appointed a Diversity, Equality and Belonging Advisor. I think it's great that we are making this a priority even when our team is still so small.

Operations & Strategy

Diversity is a priority

Nov 2020

Giving young children an amazing start in life - positively impacting their life trajectories! What more meaningful work for our society.

Operations & Strategy

Meaningful work

Nov 2020

Empowering people to run their own business and to make a difference to their lives and young children lives.

Operations & Strategy

Inspiring mission

Nov 2020

Changing the world isn't easy but it's important work that means everyday is filled with opportunities to learn and get better.

Operations & Strategy

Challenging work

Nov 2020

At tiney it's inspiring to do work that's changing the lives of individual children, families and micro-entrepreneurs, but which also has the potential to transform the whole Early Education and Childcare sector. It's great to work somewhere where everyone's so passionately unified around a really exciting, important goal.

Product

Inspiring mission

Nov 2020

Everyone at tiney is both an expert in their field and a thoroughly lovely human being. There's an amazing spirit of collaboration and incredible drive, pace and momentum. It's a really uplifting, fun and dynamic place to be.

Product

Team energy

Nov 2020

There's real trust in the team at tiney. A lot of us have young families, and we're encouraged to put them first and arrange our life so that we get to spend great time with them.

Product

Family friendly

Nov 2020

I love working for tiney because the work we do is meaningful and helps change the lives of children and adults alike! We are helping children unlock their potentials by unlocking the potentials of tiney childminders. We are literally changing people's lives for the better and giving them an opportunity to feel empowered and own their career path.

Operations & Strategy

Meaningful work

Nov 2020

At tiney my opinions and feedback matter and are valued by every member of the team. We are all being encouraged to speak out and give feedback on anything we wish to. Feedback is always returned with actions and plans on how to make it count.

Operations & Strategy

My opinions are valued

Nov 2020

Tiney really cares for its employees. We get a free day off after our first month "reflection day" to reflect on how we feel and the work we have done/what we have learned. You have autonomy of your time and can be flexible to fit in your family or errands that are important to you. You will really feel looked after at tiney!

Operations & Strategy

Focus on employee wellbeing

Nov 2020

My first few months at tiney didn't quite go according to plan: within 3 weeks of joining, we were in a global pandemic and I had to juggle getting to grips with my shiny new job with two small children at home - nightmare! Due to the nature of the business, being family friendly was a big part of tiney's values from the start but obviously nobody expected this to be tested in such an extreme way. It's been handled incredibly well, I've felt brilliantly supported all the way and empowered to work flexibly. The founders are all parents themselves, and around half the team have caring responsibilities too, so it feels like we're all in it together.

Marketing

Family friendly

Nov 2020

The leadership team are all very friendly and approachable and it feels like the culture of transparency is a definite strength here. Even though we've grown fast (the team has doubled in size in the 8 months or so since I joined), it feels like people still have close relationships with their managers and are able to go to them whenever they need support or just to chat. It feels like the whole team are appreciated for the individuals strengths they bring rather than feeling like they have to fit a prescriptive job description.

Marketing

Supportive management

Nov 2020

One of the best things about working at tiney is seeing the impact we're having on the lives of so many people: both the community of "tiney home leaders" and the children they care for, who are getting a wonderful start in life. Thanks to the way the tiney brand and culture has been built, our community is lively, engaged, diverse, caring and loyal, which is a huge source of pride for the whole team.

Marketing

Meaningful work

Nov 2020

The interview process at tiney is rigorous, such that the people who get through are of a really high calibre. As such, I am constantly learning from the people around me.

Software Engineering

Intelligent people

Nov 2020

Working in tech doesn't always come with having a positive impact on peoples lives, so it's awesome that tiney is so mission-driven. Early childhood education is an underserved area in tech, and we get to see the impact we are having on a daily basis.

Software Engineering

Meaningful work

Nov 2020

Because it's a small team with a pretty flat hierarchy, I get to work with pretty much everyone in the business so I am constantly learning from all of our brilliant people.

Software Engineering

Opportunities to learn

Nov 2020

All of our executive team have achieved incredible things in their careers so far. Brett OBE founded Teach First - CEO, Stephanie has led operations for Uber for the past few years - COO, John founded 383 - CPO and Edd founded Graze.com - CTO. The benefit of this is that they have a wealth of experience to bring to the table, they are exceptional role models and they lead in a very human and mature way.

People, HR, Recruitment

Strong leadership

Nov 2020

We are 40 people now at tiney and have hired a Diversity and Inclusion Advisor - this is huge. Our leadership team know that we need to build a strong and diverse team to reach out mission and they put their money where their mouth is. Our mission is to unlock the potential of every child and to do this, we know our product, team and education strategy needs to reflect everyone.

People, HR, Recruitment

Diversity is a priority

Nov 2020

We are changing children's lives - sounds cliche but we are. Every Monday we see new nurseries opening up and hear from our tiney home leaders. The children are taken through an education framework and can interact with adults and children in a smaller setting - this impact of this is huge.

People, HR, Recruitment

Meaningful work

Nov 2020

Jobs (3)

All locations

Software Engineering

Finance, Legal & Compliance

Sales & Account Management