Nuuri, the innovative platform streamlining the childcare journey for parents and providers, today celebrates a milestone year of technical evolution and market expansion. Since the appointment of Chris Palmer as Founding CTO in late February 2025, the company has transitioned from a singular vision into a production-ready powerhouse serving the UK market.
From YC to Nuuri: Building the Foundation
The journey began nearly a year ago when Chris joined forces with founder Steven Clarke to scale the Nuuri vision. Chris brought a high-growth pedigree to the role, having previously served as a Founding Engineer at a Y Combinator-backed tech startup that was successfully acquired by a FTSE 100 company.
At the start of 2025, Nuuri was a conceptual framework with Steven at the helm. Upon Chris’ arrival, the duo accelerated development, taking the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to full production in just a few months and officially launching across the United Kingdom in May 2025.
Customer-Centric Innovation: The WhatsApp Revolution
The past year at Nuuri has been defined by a "listen-first" approach to engineering. Based on direct customer feedback, Chris led the development of a bespoke WhatsApp waiting list tool.
This feature allows nurseries to maintain meaningful, automated connections with parents while they wait for an available placement. By meeting parents on a platform they use daily, Nuuri has significantly reduced the administrative burden on nursery managers and improved the transparency of the enrollment process for families.
Expanding the Engineering Vision
Growth at Nuuri isn’t just measured in code, but in talent. A key highlight of the year was the hiring of Yan as Founding Engineer. Working closely with Chris, Yan has been instrumental in executing a strategic vision: integrating nursery listings directly into property websites.
This initiative provides prospective homebuyers with vital childcare data at the exact moment they are researching a new area, ensuring that nursery availability is a core part of the home-buying decision-making process.
"Looking back at the last eleven months, I am incredibly proud of the velocity we’ve maintained," said Chris Palmer, Founding CTO of Nuuri. "We moved from a team of one to a high-performance engineering culture. Whether it’s the WhatsApp tool born from parent feedback or Yan’s work on property integrations, every feature we build is about making life easier for the next generation of parents."
Looking Ahead to 2026
As Nuuri enters its second year of full-scale operation, the focus remains on deepening the integration between childcare providers and the digital ecosystems families use every day. With Chris’ technical leadership and a growing engineering team, Nuuri is poised to redefine childcare infrastructure in the UK.