RegTech for childcare · EIS round · November 2026 · 1 of 4
RegTech for childcare. The engine behind a well-run nursery.
Otii is one platform for running a nursery's child safety, staff checks, compliance and special needs support. Staff log it in a few taps. Leaders see every site. When Ofsted, the regulator, inspects, the evidence is ready.
Nurseries are paid for with £10.5bn of public money a year and inspected against rules that change every September. Most still run on separate apps and spreadsheets that never link up. Otii does for nurseries what RegTech did for banks.
Concerns by risk, trend and status, for the person Ofsted holds responsible. Demo data.
Why it's a must-have
Three pressures every nursery is under
Pass or failSafeguarding has no partial creditEvery nursery is inspected by Ofsted. Fail on keeping children safe and the result is public.
Every SeptThe rules keep movingOfsted now aims to update its inspection guide every year. The national framework nurseries follow has changed three times since November 2024.
Group-wideOne failure, every site namedOfsted has started acting against whole nursery chains. When a group fails, it makes the national news, and every site carries it.
More visits, more complaints, more rule changes. The tools haven't kept up.
63 of 63nurseries that failed safeguarding were also failing on leadership.In every case, the gap was at the top. Otii gives leaders the view.
2×Complaints about nurseries have doubled3,280 to 7,190 in four years
~3×More unannounced Ofsted visits3,000 extra a year
27Rule changes to act onin the last two years, for every nursery
Without Otii: one child, one week
MondayA member of staff spots a bruise at drop-offLogged in the accident app
WednesdayThe member of staff who looks after her notices she has stopped talking and won't join inNoted in writing. The special needs lead never sees it
FridayAt pick-up, a parent says things are hard at home. It is passed to the managerNever written down. Everyone was too busy
Three people saw something. The safeguarding lead and the special needs lead saw nothing.Two records in two systems that never link up, and one never written down at all.
With OtiiEach one takes a few taps, so it gets recorded, even at a busy pick-up. All three land on the same child's record. The injury log asks: could this be a safeguarding concern? The safeguarding lead and the special needs lead see the whole picture that week, not after something goes wrong.
Safeguarding pattern report. Demo data.
How Otii does it · pick a rule
Every rule a nursery must follow becomes a few taps for staff and proof for Ofsted. Pick one.
The rule · National framework (EYFS) and Ofsted, 2026
Children with special educational needs or disabilities are spotted early and supported, with a named special needs lead (the SENCO) who knows every child's plan.
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In Otii, staff
Flag a worry to the special needs lead in a tap. The lead plans the support with the parent, and any extra funding is tracked to the child.
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Otii shows Ofsted
Each child's needs, plan, progress and funding in one record, ready on the day. Ofsted grades this under inclusion.
Ofsted inspection data, November 2025 to June 2026 (our analysis); Ofsted, August 2025; Department for Education, June 2026; our count from GOV.UK.
Small price. Sticky habit. In a market the government already pays for.
Unit economics
95%gross margin
£99a setting a month, unlimited users. Under £4 a day, even with VAT
5½ monthsto earn back the £500 it costs to win a setting today. About 4 as volume grows
11×each setting earns £5.6k of margin over five years, against £500 to win it
About the £500. It is what we have tested to date: events and e-shots only, with no brand-led marketing yet. We expect it to fall as we test more channels, and the round pays for that testing.
From today to 2031
Solid: the plan with the round. Dashed: without it. Both break even in June 2028. Tap or hover a point.
Profitable from June 2028. £5.06m annual recurring revenue by May 2031.
3,504 settings: one in eight of England's 27,900 childcare settings outside the home. Without the round: 1,712 settings and the same break-even date.
027,900 nurseries, pre-schools and clubs registered with Ofsted. 60% are single sites; the four largest groups hold about 7%
Built to sell in 2030 to 2031, after the three-year EIS hold. At 5 to 7 times revenue, the market and strategic range for software like ours, that's £25m to £35m.
Where it gets bigger
3Large groups
Three of the UK's largest nursery groups came to us. One is working with us towards a rollout from its new financial year in April. The other two are bigger rollouts, including sites outside England. The round is what lets us take them on.
£1.6bnInclusion
A new government fund, over three years, to support children with special needs in schools and nurseries. Our Inclusion Hub is built for it.
150+Councils
Councils in England. A licence gives each one a compliance view of every setting in its area.
4UK nations
Nursery groups with sites in more than one UK nation answer to different regulators. Otii is built to map each one.
Why won't the software nurseries already use just do this?
Nursery management systems
Built for parent messages, billing and learning journals. Compliance is a bolt-on, each in their own version, and slow to change when the rules do.
Otii
Mapped to what Ofsted inspects and the national early years rules, and nothing more. One standard for every nursery, updated once when the rules change: the September 2026 changes were live in Otii in August.
Nursery management systems are partners, not rivals: Otii sits alongside them. Our full competitor analysis comes with the financials, on request.
We built the tool we needed when we ran nurseries.
Live, paying and recognised.
£43.6kannual run rate at 31 October, up every month
500registered users across our paying settings. Live since June 2026, billing since July
39paying settings across 24 customers, and customers adding sites
UK hostedchildren's records stored in the UK; any access from outside the UK approved and safeguarded by our data protection officer
£75kInnovate UKWomen in Innovation award. Top 4%: 61 funded from 1,590
FinalistNMT Awards 2026Technology Product of the Year, Nursery Management Today
Top 25Investec ESEYs 2026Shortlisted in The Future of Education & Work
Trust and security
ICO registeredZC096557
External DPOan independent data protection officer
Pen-testedindependent tests, regular external and our own internal testing
Cyber Essentialsby April 2027, then ISO 27001
Owner, multi-site operator, nursery manager, head office. Between us we've done every job Otii serves.
Maggie BolgerFounder and CEO
Built a family club and nursery business and scaled it across London and Asia, as owner and the person legally accountable to Ofsted. Then CEO of a nursery business through a hard inspection, which is where Otii started.
Scaled a multi-site business across London and AsiaLegally accountable to Ofsted
The owner
As a nursery CEO, answered to Ofsted and investors for a hard inspection, when the information wasn't in one place.
Stuart GrahamChief Operating Officer
Senior operator across some of the UK's major nursery chains, running operations across many sites and leading their software rollouts.
Senior operator, major UK nursery chainsLed software rollouts in childcare groups
The multi-site operator
Ran childcare across many sites, where every site kept its own records and nothing joined up.
Katerina KarnavouHead of Customer
Fifteen years in nurseries, from working with children in the room to area manager, including at Kido, one of the UK's large nursery groups. Has also run sales and support for a childcare marketing company. MBA and guest lecturer.
15 years, room to area managerRan sales and support, childcare marketing
The manager on the floor
Opened the door to Ofsted, and carried the inspection for the whole business on the day.
Tom StanleyCo-founder: commercial, tech and finance
Owns WS+Co, accountants to the hospitality sector, whose in-house tech team built the firm's own payroll software and now builds Otii. Worked with Maggie before, on her nursery business.
Owns WS+Co, accountants to hospitalityBuilt payroll software in house
Head office
Saw what disjointed systems cost a business, in money and in time.
AbeLead Full-Stack Developer
Who builds it. Abe leads the three developers who built and run Otii, through our development partner WS+Co. He specialises in high-performance back-end systems, and trained through Africa to Silicon Valley (A2SV), rising to product team lead. All the code and IP belong to Otii.
£500,000 EIS · April 2027£5m pre-money 9.1% of the company £250k SEIS raised and closed
A proven product with real demand. Every penny raised so far went into building it, so a small team is punching above its weight. This round grows the sales team, opens up the larger nursery groups and councils, and makes us a well-funded supplier they can trust. We would also like an experienced tech investor to join the board.
The sales teamThree hires in April 2027 (marketing and events, sales and customer, our content lead full time), lead generation, and twice the events for visibility and sector trust
Larger groupsA team ready for large groups. Interest has come sooner than we planned, and bringing a group on board takes more people than we have
CouncilsOpening up councils and government, through the new inclusion funding
Where the money goes
About half sales team, lead generation and events
About a fifth leadership and board: a full-time leadership team, a tech investor as non-executive director, and senior CTO time
About 15% councils: a government partnerships lead and data legal work
About 10% product and security: a fourth developer, ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials Plus
About 5% large group onboarding and UK nations research
We break even in June 2028 with or without this round. The round roughly doubles where we get to: 3,504 settings by 2031 instead of 1,712. From there we grow on revenue, or raise again to move faster into groups and councils if demand is there.
Want to know more?
Ask for the financial summary and competitor analysis by email, or book a call with Maggie for the full model and plan.
For high net worth and sophisticated investors only. Capital at risk. This is not an offer to subscribe for shares, and EIS relief depends on each investor's circumstances.
Get Otii Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 16496040.
New to early years?
The 60-second version
Who's in charge
Nurseries in England are registered and inspected by Ofsted and must follow the EYFS, the government's rulebook for the under-fives. Councils pay for most places through government-funded hours: £10.5bn of public money a year.
How inspection works now
Since November 2025 every nursery gets a published report card. Six areas, including leadership, inclusion and children's welfare, are graded on a five-point scale from urgent improvement to exceptional. Safeguarding is simply met or not met. There is no partial credit.
What changed in 2026
New inspection toolkit and EYFS from September 2026. Ofsted expects to update the toolkit about once a year.
Inspections every 4 years instead of 6; new nurseries within 18 months (Ofsted, March 2026).
3,000 more unannounced visits a year (DfE, June 2026).
Ofsted has started acting on nursery groups as a whole, not just one site at a time.
Where inclusion is heading
The government's SEND white paper (Every Child Achieving and Thriving, February 2026) sets out:
£1.6bn Inclusive Mainstream Fund over three years from 2026-27, covering schools, colleges and early years settings
£1.8bn for Experts at Hand, and £200m+ for SEND training
New digital plans recording children's additional needs, and a planned duty on nurseries to record special educational needs in an Individual Support Plan
Settings held to account for how inclusion funding is used
These are proposals, still under consultation. EHCPs stay for children with the most complex needs.
Why it matters for Otii: the Inclusion Hub already records needs, support and funding for each child. If the duty lands, every nursery needs exactly that record, and councils need a view across their nurseries. That is the council route.
The market
59,700childcare providers registered with Ofsted
27,900nurseries, pre-schools and clubs on non-domestic premises
24,700childminders
18,324day nurseries and pre-schools: the market Otii sells to first
The acronyms you will hear
EYFS
Early Years Foundation Stage: the statutory rulebook for under-fives
KCSIE
Keeping Children Safe in Education: safeguarding guidance
DSL
Designated safeguarding lead
SENCO
Special educational needs coordinator
SEND
Special educational needs and disabilities
EHCP
Education, health and care plan, for the most complex needs
LADO
Local authority designated officer, who handles allegations against staff
NI
Nominated individual: the person legally accountable to Ofsted for a group
Sources: Ofsted, Childcare providers and inspections as at 31 March 2026 (provider counts); our count of day nurseries and pre-schools, 30 June 2026; Ofsted early years inspection toolkit, September 2026; Ofsted, 27 March 2026; DfE, 22 June 2026, as reported by the Early Years Alliance and Coram PACEY; DfE, Every Child Achieving and Thriving, February 2026.
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