Ed Tech start-up more than doubles its team during the pandemic

A Yorkshire Ed Tech start-up has more than doubled its team in the last six months, growing from three full-time members to eleven during the pandemic. 

Natterhub is an educational social media platform that allows children to learn about the internet, social media and screen use.  

Based in Sheffield, the company was founded by chief executive officer Manjit Sareen, chief operating officer, Deepak Sareen and chief creative officer and former assistant headteacher, Caroline Allams.

The company has seen rapid growth since its launch in April, with over 2,000 schools in 38 countries already using the platform. 

As a result, Natterhub has hired eight new full-time staff: Gemma Exelby as marketing manager, Phil Bayles as a content writer, Sam Harris as a software developer and Peter Millard as a senior developer.

Kitty Crowther also joins as a teacher support advisor, Ruby Qaimkhani as a business development consultant, and Rio Athwal as an intern.  Thomas Woodward will also be joining the team as a junior developer in October. 

Natterhub is part of TwinklHive, the business accelerator created by the global educational publisher Twinkl.

The Natterhub platform was created by the founders but developed further by educational experts and developers at Twinkl.

Exelby, who was previously a senior account executive at Purple Agency, said: “I’d been working in project management since 2018, and whilst I enjoyed the work, there was always something missing.

“Natterhub’s ethos and purpose is so important and meaningful for education and it has become clear to me that this was the missing piece.

“It’s wonderful to work with a team where everyone is willing to get their hands stuck in for anything and everything. An ideal scenario for a startup business.”

Crowther, who has worked as a primary school teacher for the last four years, said: “As a teacher, you are an important role model in a child’s life and it’s our duty to support them to keep as safe as possible when online.

Natterhub provided an exciting opportunity to join a growing company that has a vision to support our future generations.”

Natterhub was launched a month earlier than planned, as the team recognised it would be useful for teachers and children to use during school closures.

Originally created for classroom use, the company quickly adapted the platform to make it ideal for home-use also, and made it available for free.

Natterhub was the first start-up company to join TwinklHive, which was launched by Twinkl at the end of last year.

By providing support to EdTech start-ups, TwinklHive brings together emerging companies set to transform areas of education and make a difference to the lives of teachers and pupils.