The Startup Sitters Childcare is an issue many parents struggle with, but for Ari Last, the experience became a personal mission.

The CEO and co-founder of Bubble, the UK's largest childcare app, Last's journey to solving this widespread issue began in the chaos of family life.

"I have three young kids, and it wasn't long after my first that I realised how childcare was the bane of my life, and of most other parents I knew," says Last. "In a world of consumer apps where booking anything on demand was becoming easy and ubiquitous, I felt aggrieved at how little was out there when it came to solving what was without a doubt our biggest daily problem. It's as if parents had been left behind by tech."

Indeed, Last's frustration is a sentiment that resonates with millions of parents around the world. With a system often reliant on personal recommendations, finding reliable and flexible childcare had long been a challenge that left parents with few solutions. But what was a personal struggle for Last would eventually fuel his entrepreneurial drive.

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The idea for Bubble was sparked one evening when Last and his wife, while abroad, faced a common dilemma: they didn't have a sitter and were about to cancel their plans. "My sister-in-law said she knew someone locally - a sister of someone at her work - who might be able to help. Within half an hour, this lady was at our door. We knew nothing about her other than that she had come recommended by other parents we trusted," Last recalls.

The experience intrigued him. "I found it really interesting how personal recommendation in this space was almost entirely driving our decision-making - and that's something you can digitize."

Thus, the concept for Bubble was born: an app that connects parents with trusted sitters based on social networks, allowing them to find childcare through friends, family, and colleagues. "We built Bubble's app on top of a social network, connecting parents to the sitters trusted by their friends, family, and colleagues," explains Last. "We were approaching this problem and the issue of 'trust' in a completely different way than the traditional sector had done before, and it was giving parents the validation and trust markers they ultimately needed when choosing their childcare."

With more than 350,000 users and 5 million hours of childcare processed, Bubble's rapid growth is a testament to its appeal. "From the get-go, we've been really obsessive about our product and ensuring it delivers for our customers: both parents and sitters. In our business, the customer experience is binary: it's either exceptional or not good enough," Last notes. "That forces us to be laser-focused on building a service that truly delivers value. Our growth has been largely organic to date, which is testament to this."

The timing was right for a flexible childcare solution. As the nature of work continues to evolve, Bubble found itself uniquely positioned to help families manage their childcare needs, especially with the rise of hybrid work and unpredictable schedules. "The way parents use childcare has definitely shifted with the rise of flexible work," Last says. "With hybrid working now the new normal, we've seen changes in how and when childcare is needed. In particular, on-demand childcare has grown in popularity, and we do more daytime bookings now than evenings."

For parents working from home or dealing with the unexpected, flexibility has become a priority. "It's not unusual for parents to book a sitter for a specific window to cover an important meeting they're taking from home," Last explains. "Or, when they get the dreaded call from their child's nursery that they're sick and need to be picked up, they might quickly arrange same-day care so they can focus while working from home." For these moments, Bubble offers the ability to book care in as little as 30 minutes, an essential feature for modern parents navigating their daily lives.

As the demand for flexible childcare grows, Bubble has expanded to offer a wider range of services. "We've also expanded our services in response to the needs we see from families, whether that's offering nannies for longer-term support or access to backup childcare to working parents through partnerships with their employers," Last shares. The company has even launched pet care to cater to busy families, an example of how Bubble continues to listen to its users and adapt to their needs.

Maintaining trust is key for a platform that revolves around childcare. Ensuring the safety of the children and peace of mind for parents is paramount. Bubble's vetting process is stringent, with multiple layers of verification. "Thousands of sitters sign up to Bubble every month, with only one in four getting approved on the platform," says Last. "Our verification process has multiple steps, including identity checks, background checks, and references too. We also allow sitters to bolster their verifications with things like enhanced DBS verification, interviews, and video profiles."

In addition to these checks, the app's social network-based validation ensures that parents can see reviews from other families and connect with those who've used a sitter before. "Parents can read reviews of each sitter, chat to the parents who've used them before and see the sitters their friends know, use and trust," Last explains.

But what truly sets Bubble apart from traditional childcare services is the level of control it offers parents. Unlike on-demand services like Uber, where customers push a button and hope for the best, Bubble allows parents to choose their sitters by seeing a range of options and making an informed decision. "You don't push a button on Bubble and get a sitter. You get to see great options, engage with them and make an informed choice about who you want to book," says Last. "Parents want that control because, as mums and dads, we are always best placed to decide who is right to look after our kids."

Looking ahead, Last sees massive potential for Bubble to scale globally, particularly as the childcare crisis continues to worsen. "Childcare is a massive and growing problem, not just in the UK but the world over. Recruitment in the sector is on its knees, and costs are becoming increasingly unaffordable for families," he says. "We can help here and are just scratching the surface in terms of what we can do. Needless to say, we're hugely motivated to solve a problem that, as parents ourselves, is so close to our hearts."

Already, Bubble has garnered impressive partnerships with companies like Uber and attracted a celebrity fan base, but for Last, it's the product that speaks for itself. "Ultimately it's testament to the product we've built: trusted, brilliant childcare that's genuinely on demand and really works," he says. "You need a great service to sign up these great partners, and you also need a brand that's committed to decency, quality, and doing the right thing."

Bubble's journey from an app born out of necessity to a rapidly growing solution in the childcare space highlights the power of understanding consumer pain points and leveraging technology to offer real value. With flexible work becoming the norm and childcare needs growing more complex, Bubble's approach is both timely and essential.

For Last, however, it's not just about business success - it's about solving a problem close to his heart. "We've got such a long way to go in terms of awareness of what we do, but also in terms of the value our product can deliver," he says. "We're just scratching the surface, and we're hugely motivated to solve a problem that affects so many parents around the world."