Our story
Built by people who know the work.
KinMatch did not start in a boardroom. It started at a kitchen table, with someone who does this work every day, and someone who could build the tool she wished she had.
Why we built KinMatch
Our founder, Chris Tipping, has spent sixteen years running an award-winning digital marketing agency, and years around children and families in his community. Closer to home, his partner is a social worker in fostering, doing some of the most important work there is.
He watched her do that work with tools that made it harder, not easier. Referrals lost in inboxes. Matching held together in someone’s head. Compliance chased by hand before every inspection. And, at the end of it all, children waiting for the right home.
KinMatch is the tool she wished she had, built by someone who could actually build it. Recruit carers, match children with the reasons shown, and keep the record-keeping handled, in one place that respects the people using it.
Meet Chris
Chris has spent sixteen years growing brands for other people. He is a director of The DM Lab, an award-winning Hereford digital marketing agency, where the team helps organisations connect marketing, technology and data. KinMatch is what happens when that experience, and the team’s ability to build, is pointed at a cause worth the effort.
He is also, by any measure, a community person. He is chairman and a director of Belmont Wanderers FC, a grassroots football club with more than thirty teams giving local boys, girls, men and women the chance to play. And he is a trustee of the Herefordshire Veterans Support Centre, the charity that supports the county’s armed forces community, from mental health to benefits, employment and a friendly ear.
None of that is a coincidence. Chris spends his time building useful things and showing up for people, especially children and people who need a bit of support. KinMatch is cut from the same cloth: careful engineering in the service of children who are waiting for the right home.
And it is personal. KinMatch grew out of what his partner lives every day as a social worker in fostering. Her frontline experience and his years building digital products are both in the product, and that is exactly the point.
Director
The DM Lab
An award-winning Hereford digital marketing agency, sixteen years in, helping organisations grow online.
Visit →Chairman & director
Belmont Wanderers FC
A much-loved grassroots football club with more than thirty teams for boys, girls, men and women across Hereford.
Visit →Trustee
Herefordshire Veterans Support Centre
The charity supporting the county's armed forces community, from mental health to benefits, employment and a friendly ear.
Visit →What we believe
Safeguarding first
Children are identified by initials only, never full names. Access is role-based and every action is logged. It is the foundation, not a feature.
A person always decides
Our matching suggests and explains, with the reasons shown. A qualified person always makes the decision about a child. Always.
Honest by default
Fair pricing, unlimited staff logins, free data export any time, and no lock-in. Your records are yours, and they stay that way.
Built with the sector
Shaped by frontline social work and time spent around children, not guesswork. We would rather get one thing right than ship ten things that look clever.
Free for local authorities
Placement sufficiency is everyone’s problem, so we do not charge the authorities raising referrals. Agencies fund the platform, and local authorities use it free, with unlimited users.
Built by The DM Lab
KinMatch is built and run by The DM Lab, an award-winning UK digital marketing agency and a trading name of McTip IT Limited. We build carefully, we host in the UK, and we are in this for the long run, not a quick exit.
Want to be part of it?
We are onboarding our first agencies now, with 50% off the first year for founding partners. If you work in fostering, we would love to talk.