I’m thrilled to officially announce that Tinycare has been acquired by Higher Ground Education, the largest and fastest growing Montessori school network in the US! 🎉
I’m stoked to partner with Ray Girn and his team at Higher Ground to integrate & scale Tinycare's infant & toddler micro daycares with Higher Ground’s network of 120+ preschool+ centers around the world.
In 2019, Tinycare started with a crazy idea — could we expand quality childcare in cities by providing housing for early educators, giving them salary & benefits, and turning living rooms into beautiful, bilingual Montessori inspired care centers?
We were shut down during COVID, then while Bay Area daycares shrunk 34% we grew 10x, raised a Series A led by wonderful partners at ACME Capital and Trust Ventures, and scaled across the Bay Area and Arizona.
Late last year, I met Ray and found he had a shared vision for the future of childcare and a brilliant strategy incorporating micro centers & mega centers. Higher Ground was already serving 10K+ children, built a wildly impressive full Montessori training academy, and platform for launching & running world class Montessori schools globally.
Starting a new childcare model and running a rapidly growing school network during COVID was the hardest thing I’ve done in my life to date. We (especially I) made plenty of mistakes along the way, but I’m proud of the impact we made on the lives of children & families. Pediatricians shared, “I’ve never seen children develop as quickly as in Tinycare.” Teachers shared, “Tinycare’s housing changed my life.” We had multiple families send several children to Tinycare, including Sean Duffy, who said:
“Sending my children to Tinycare is one of the best decisions I have made. I love their quality care, the world class teachers they are able to attract, and their low ratio micro center model. My older daughter has been thriving, and as a result when we had our boy the first thing we did was sign him up for Tinycare. I’m excited the acquisition will lead to expanding their model and more Montessori expertise for children and our families.”
I’m grateful for the belief from so many people — our team, our investors, and our families that trusted us with their precious children. The most important thanks goes to our wonderful teachers, who day-in-day out transform the lives of children. Specific thanks below. 👇🏻
Systemic change in early childhood is needed to fix our early education system for all children, regardless of income or family background. I’m excited to advise Higher Ground Education, recently joined the Board of Wu Yee Children's Services, the largest Head Start provider in San Francisco, and am exploring policy solutions to ensure every child can meet their full potential.
Onwards! 🚀
Community is so important, thanks for sharing!