ANGEL INVESTORS FROM BETFAIR, BOOHOO, PHOTOBOX AND ZOOPLA INVEST

bubble, the app for finding a recommended babysitter in your area, with a growing community of 10,000 parents and sitters, has closed a £500,000 seed round with high profile angel investors supporting the fledgling business.

The angels include:

• Andrew Black, Co-Founder of Betfair
• The Kamani Family of Boohoo / Pretty Little Thing
• Graham Hobson, Co-Founder of Photobox
• Stephen Morana, former CFO for Zoopla
• Marina Fogle, Founder of The Bump Class

bubble launched in September 2016 and is the brainchild of its two Co-Founders, dads Ari Last and Adrian Murdock. Both held senior roles at Betfair, notonthehighstreet.com and MarketInvoice before giving up the day job to start the business.

The service takes aim at parents who find themselves needing to book trusted childcare at short notice. bubble uses Big Data to connect parents with the babysitters used and trusted by their friends and community. All sitters are also ID and background checked.

The funding coincides with the launch of bubble’s new ‘Express Book’ feature, an on-demand babysitter marketplace that is on average providing parents with available sitters in less than a minute.

Video explainer: How Express Book works

Commenting on today’s news Ari said: “It is incredible to receive this support from investors who have helped shape some of the most successful digital brands in the UK. The funding allows us to continue our mission to become the country’s smartest and most trusted childcare platform. The feedback from our early parent customers has been fantastic and we’ve doubled our numbers in the last three months. There’s now strong interest to take bubble outside of London.

Adrian added: “The bubble community is at the heart of the business and is a huge part of our success to date. We know that finding a trusted babysitter is a constant challenge. bubble is taking the hassle out of this by allowing users to connect with their friends and local community to get recommendations from parents just like them. Our growth numbers have been encouraging, demonstrating to us that we are answering a problem many have been facing.”

Adam Kamani, co-founder of online fashion retailer, PrettyLittleThing said: “bubble is solving the childcare problem so many parents face every day, in the way we order most of life’s essentials – through a tap of a smartphone. The early customer feedback has been exceptional and we’re excited about being a part of the business, using our expertise and experience to help it scale in London and beyond.”

Graham Hobson, co-founder of PhotoBox said: “bubble has seen great growth with a highly engaged community of customers. Finding trusted childcare is an age-old problem faced by millions of parents and bubble are solving this with some great tech-innovation.”

About bubble

• The bubble app allows parents to find, book and pay for a trusted babysitter in their area, with a few taps of a button
• bubble uses social networks and community data, allowing parents to find and book the babysitters used and trusted by their friends.
• Current features include one-tap payment and a two-way ratings and reviews system between parents and sitters
• All babysitters on the app pass through an online identity and criminal records background check
• babysitters set their own hourly rates
• For parents, bubble charges a £3.50 booking fee at the end of each sit they do through the app. There are no sign-up or subscription costs for either user
• To find out more, visit http://joinbubble.com or download the app on iOS or Android