In 2008, new parent Clare Roberts was struggling to find a suitable nursery, so she opened her own, Kids Planet. Right from the start, she knew that an engaged team would be critical for success, particularly in a sector with historically low pay and—as anyone who’s tried to look after more than two children at once can attest—high stress.
The nursery did well, so Kids Planet began to expand. There were 16 sites in 2016, when Roberts first took minority private equity funding from BGF, later selling a majority stake to Fremman in 2021, remaining as CEO. Since then, the chain—she prefers ‘family’—has grown to 252 sites around the U.K., primarily through acquisition.
