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Nina.care, the ground-breaking Dutch platform allowing users to easily and quickly book reliable childcare, enters the UK market with its app offering au pair services. Founded in 2019 by twin sisters Jasmijn and Lyla Kok, the tech company comes at a particularly tenuous time for families seeking childcare in the United Kingdom.
With popular demand and rising costs, childcare is getting harder and harder to arrange. The fallout from Brexit has made this an especially challenging reality for families in the UK. Before Brexit, there were approximately 90,000 au pairs employed, many of whom came from Europe. The supply helped alleviate demand in a market complicated by a high number of days off between trimesters for parents and especially children as well as high costs for out-of-school care. But due to changed regulations, UK families must now recruit au pairs from Canada, Australia and New Zealand, among others in order to compensate for the change in supply.
Currently, there is no European service provider that offers such au pair services at this scale. Nina.care is on a mission to change that.
Revolutionise the world of childcare
Twin sisters and co-founders Jasmijn and Lyla Kok started earning money by babysitting while studying at Technical University Delft. They immediately recognised a business opportunity. Many people in their area were searching for a babysitter, but couldn’t find one. Together with their father, they built a website and started offering childcare services.
Today, the duo have developed their idea into a rapidly growing technology company. Nina.care is a platform based in Haarlem, with a team of 35 (FTE), including 7 in-house devs, and touts its ability to easily connect families with babysitters and au pairs in the Netherlands. The startup has already made big strides in its home country.
“Nina.care has succeeded in serving almost a third of the total au pair market in the Netherlands within 2 years. It's great to see them bring together technology and psychology to best match families and au pairs. Given the childcare market in the UK, it’s a logical next step to cross the channel,” said Shawn Harris, founder of Orange Wings Investments.
Au pair services via an internationally scalable platform
Nina.care’s expansion into the UK market arrives at the perfect time. The platform offers its au pair services via an app with an AI-enhanced algorithm that saves time and learns what good matches are to better match families and candidates. The app also includes plenty of useful features such as:
- International time zone support
- International currency support
- Easy payment functions for guaranteed direct payment
- Document tracking and collection
Nina.care also offers additional services to ensure dedicated support for both au pairs and families. For example, au pairs can improve their language skills through the platform’s au pair academy. For a smoother search and on-boarding process, families have access to an on-site dedicated agent who can assist with intake, matching, on-the-ground processes, and even help navigate the complex procedures surrounding the UK au pair visa process.
“With our services now available in the United Kingdom, we get closer to our dream of becoming an internationally operating company. Wouldn’t it be great if you could book an au pair or babysitter anywhere in the world via our app?” - says Jasmijn Kok, co-founder Nina.care.
The Nina.care app is now available in the App Store and Google Play Store. For more information, visit the website Nina.care.
