New exit for Pembroke VCT: N Family Club – from a single premium nursery to an award-winning group of 50 settings
Pembroke VCT has announced its profitable exit of premium nursery chain N Family Club. The transaction has generated cash proceeds equivalent to a 2.9x realised return for the VCT. Past performance is not a guide to the future.
Following the exit, Pembroke has declared a dividend of 3.5p per share, expected to be paid in January 2026. This would raise the total dividend to 5.5p per share for the current financial year – outperforming the VCT’s annual target dividend of 5p per share. Dividends are variable and not guaranteed.
Pembroke VCT first invested in N Family Club in 2018 and followed on in 2020, investing a total of £3 million.
Established in 2017, N Family Club began as a single nursery for babies and toddlers in the vibrant, family-friendly North London neighbourhood of Stoke Newington.
In November this year, the business celebrated its milestone of 50 progressive, high-quality nurseries across London, Essex, Surrey, Cambridge, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Kent, Sussex and the West Midlands.
What makes N Family Club different from other nurseries? Why did Pembroke invest? What support did Pembroke provide? How might you invest in similar companies? Read on to find out more.
Important: The information on this website is for experienced investors. It is not advice nor a research or personal recommendation to invest. If you’re unsure, please seek advice. VCT investments are high risk and you could lose the money you invest.
N Family Club – premium progressive nurseries creating community for families
There is high demand for nursery places in the UK, but the quality of what’s available can be patchy. 74% of under-fives have some form of childcare during term time, but only 14% of childcare providers in England are Ofsted-rated Outstanding.
Founder Phil Sunderland wanted to change this and set out to create nurseries that feel like a home-from-home, while providing the highest-quality early years education.
The nursery group offers a progressive curriculum designed by experts, based around experiential play and enrichment activities. As part of this, the nurseries take the children on trips – a “child’s bucket list” of key cultural experiences including visiting the theatre, fire stations, local farms, literary festivals to meet children’s authors, and local shops.
Housed often in period buildings, N Family Club nurseries feature architect-designed playrooms, an arts and crafts workshop, a children’s kitchen, an adventure playground outdoors and perhaps an allotment. A breakfast coffee-and-snack bar is free for parents on the go, and the children’s meals, from curated menus, are freshly prepared and cooked on site.
Now a Certified B Corporation, N Family Club operates 51 weeks of the year, seven days a week – as a high-quality nursery 7am-to-7pm during the week, and a family club at weekends.
In 2022 and 2023 N Family Club topped the Nursery Chains quality table (ranking the 25 biggest nursery groups in the UK according to proportion of Ofsted Outstanding grades achieved) and was in the top five in 2024 and 2025. The business is also a certified Great Place To Work (a leading survey-based certification).
Why did Pembroke VCT invest?
Pembroke VCT looks to back ambitious entrepreneurs – like N Family Club’s Phil Sunderland – developing strong brands and challenging outdated practices in a high-demand sector.
As part of its investment strategy, the VCT aims to take a significant stake in each portfolio company, to influence strategy and maximise value. It will then provide funding in “steps”, with each tranche allocated toward a specific growth period and proving the next stage of the business.
Accordingly, between 2018 and 2020, Pembroke VCT invested a total of £3 million in N Family Club across three equity rounds, each time to support the company’s next phase of growth. The business grew considerably and weathered the pandemic – it opened 11 new sites in 2021 alone. This year, it has reached the milestone of running 50 nurseries.
How might you invest in similar companies?
Pembroke VCT is open for investment.
As mentioned, the VCT has declared a dividend of 3.5p, expected to be paid in January. Investors applying by 12 December (9am) should be eligible. Dividends are variable and not guaranteed.
Pembroke VCT gives investors exposure to a portfolio of over 45 companies across sectors the team knows well: mainly consumer, B2B business services and technology.
Launched in 2013, it has net assets of £255.9m million and a portfolio of over 45 companies (September 2025). Excluding the recent sale of N Family Club, it has to date achieved five profitable exits, generating proceeds of £37.6 million against a cost of £10.9 million, an average 3.4x realised return.
In the 10 years to September 2025, the VCT has produced a NAV total return (including dividends) of 40.6% (15.0% over five years). Past performance is not a guide to the future.
The VCT targets a dividend of 5p per annum, variable and not guaranteed. Over the ten years to September 2025, the VCT has paid cumulative dividends equivalent to 40.9% of the starting NAV.
See performance of Pembroke VCT
NAV and cumulative dividends per share over five years (p)
Source: Morningstar. Past performance is no guide to the future. Dividends are variable and not guaranteed. The bar chart shows net asset value and cumulative dividends per share for the period 31/12/2019 – 30/09/2025.
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Alex Davies
Chief Executive
Alex was a board director at Hargreaves Lansdown, where he worked for 15 years. He was responsible for building Hargreaves Lansdown into the biggest direct-to-consumer SIPP provider in the UK with more than 150,000 clients and over £12 billion under management. He is a keen investor with a portfolio of shares, funds, student property, EIS and VCT investments.