UK digital after school nanny platform raises $18m for expansion

Koru-Kids, a London-based nanny sharing platform, has raised the equivalent of A$18 million in new funding to expand its operations and business reach as it aims to pursue its objective of solving childcare issues for working parents across the British capital. 

Koru Kids was founded in 2016 and aimed to provide a service that cared for children in the gap period between the end of school and when parents returned home. 

With formal “out of school hours” services less evolved in the United Kingdom, an opportunity arose for an intermediary to provide qualified, trusted, flexible part time nannies to families looking to plug the gap between school ending and returning home. 

Koru Kids currently has almost 1,000 nannies on its platform who are trained in first aid, educational philosophies, risk assessment and homework support via an interactive boot camp. 

The company highlights that only 10 per cent of all applicants receive a position and that their screening process helps identify which candidates have what it takes to succeed as a Koru Kids nanny. 

Parents can select the nanny of their choice via the platform and will pay around the equivalent of A$23.40 an hour, but if they elect to share the nanny with another family that falls to the equivalent of A$16.20 an hour. 

Parents are required to commit to a set number of hours a month and all payments, pensions and taxes are managed by the platform itself with no cash actually hands on the day. 

Koru Kids has now raised a total of around $25 million from a range of private equity investors. 

For more information on this story please click here and for further detail on the Koru Kids product and reception please click this article from the Evening Standard in the UK.