CrecheJá — Childcare Discovery, Comparison & Waitlist Platform for Portugal

The Problem

Parents in Portugal face a nightmarish childcare search process:

"Milhares de crianças à espera de vaga num jardim de infância público" — Jornal de Notícias, reporting on thousands of children waiting for public kindergarten spots.

On r/PortugalExpats: Parents report needing to "apply during pregnancy" to have a chance at spots, with waitlists exceeding 12-18 months in Lisbon and Porto.

Specific pain points:

• Fragmented information: The government's "Creche Feliz" app only covers free spots from the solidarity network. Private creches aren't listed. No single platform covers all 2,808+ institutions.
• No comparison tools: Parents can't compare prices, pedagogy approaches, schedules, or read reviews in one place.
• Opaque waitlists: Each creche manages its own waitlist. Parents apply to 5-10 manually with no visibility into their position or chances.
• Priority rules are complex: Rules based on family composition, income brackets, siblings, and geography — but no tool helps parents understand their actual priority score.
• Expats are lost: Growing international community has zero visibility into Portuguese childcare system.

Existing solutions are inadequate:

• Creche Feliz app (government): Only shows free spots in solidarity network. Basic search by concelho. No reviews, no pricing, no private creches.
• Mapa Social: Lists institutions but with zero UX — no filtering, no reviews, no comparison, no waitlist info.
• GesEdu: Pre-school focus, not creches. Government data portal, not consumer-friendly.