The Rise of Modern In-Home Care Services
Depending on the needs, traditional in-home care services can be very expensive, ranging from live-in nurses or companions to regularly scheduled visits from medical professionals and caregivers such as visiting nurses. There are also home care aides that typically don’t provide medical care, but are useful nonetheless.
The market for in-home care services is highly fragmented with no single dominant player as the majority of players are operating in a particular region or country only. And unsurprisingly, it was among the sectors that have experienced the “Uber-ization effect.” As a result — in addition to traditional in-home care networks — these days we have new, modern services that rely on mobile technologies to deliver a similar experience. Or, arguably, one that is even better.
Unlike traditional services, however, these new services are seldom covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or long-term care insurance. Nonetheless, the open marketplace approach some of these services have adopted has helped drive costs south, while at the same time keeping the quality of the service at the same level
Here are a few of the most promising startups in this space:
CareLinx
Headquarters: Burlingame, California, United States
Funding Amount: $27.2M
Select investors: Ziegler, Generator Ventures, Alumni Ventures Group, Green D Ventures, StartUp Health
https://www.carelinx.com/
CareLinx runs an online nationwide network for in-home care, improving access to affordable, quality home care for families with aging loved ones. The company matches vetted caregivers with the patients who need them, with its web and mobile platform enabling care quality oversight and providing better patient outcomes and reduced hospitalizations compared to traditional agencies. Said platform also helps families and caregivers manage all the administrative tasks of their caregiving needs, including scheduling, time tracking, care coordination and payroll processing. CareLinx's partners are some of largest health systems and health plans who are transitioning to value-based care in a home and community setting. The company's platform has more than 200,000 caregivers across the country and is helping families save as much as 50% than if they hired the same caregivers through brick and mortar franchise agencies.
Cera
Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Funding Amount: $407.1M
Select investors: Kairos, Guinness Asset Management, Auriens, Yabeo Capital, Kima Ventures
https://ceracare.co.uk/
Founded in 2016, Cera Care (or just Cera) is a home care provider that has developed technology to provide high-quality, transparent care to hundreds of service users in the UK and Germany. It aims to enable people to live well in their own homes and communities, and is in that sense working closely with local health professionals such as GPs, nurses and social workers to provide a fully connected service. Through its matching and automated scheduling systems, the company is able to arrange home care within 24 hours, while fully taking into consideration a customer's needs and preferences. Cera has developed preventative Artificial Intelligence technology, called SmartCare, to predict deteriorations in our users' health, permitting earlier intervention and more proactive care. The company has a number of public sector contracts and has partnered with IBM to test the use of sensors in the home to detect changes in needs when carers aren't there.
Comfort Keepers
Headquarters: Dayton, Ohio, United States
http://www.comfortkeepers.com/
Founded in 1998, Comfort Keepers is a franchise network in the in-home care market for seniors and other adults needing care, allowing its customers to live independently and as comfortably as possible. In order to make it easy for family members to keep up with their elderly loved one, the company is offering grandPad tablets to its users. In August of 2009, the franchisor CK Franchising, Inc. was purchased by Sodexo, a global leader that delivers Quality of Life services to over 75 million consumers in 80 countries each day.
Honor
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Funding Amount: $625
Select investors: Baillie Gifford, Andreessen Horowitz, Naspers, Thrive Capital, 8VC
https://www.joinhonor.com/
Founded in 2015, Honor provides a mobile-enabled, in-home senior care, helping older adults continue to live well and independently at home. The company is also the founder of the Honor Care Network, a national network of home care providers. It is the first company ever to bring scalable workforce management and technology expertise together with the high-touch, personalized care of local homegrown care agencies. Working with Care Network Partners, thoroughly-screened and background-checked Honor Care Pros help older adults live safely and comfortably in their own home by enabling reliable, transparent, high-quality care.
Papa
Headquarters: Miami, Florida, United States
Funding Amount: $241.2M
Select investors: SoftBank Vision Fund, Tiger Global Management, Comcast Ventures, Canaan Partners, Initialized Capital
https://www.joinpapa.com/
Papa is a service that connects College Students to Senior Citizens who need transportation, house help, technology lessons, companionship, and other senior services. Described like "having grandkids on-demand," it sends College Students to assist seniors with rides, daily tasks or just hang out. Papa is available in two tiers: basic, free membership that costs $20 per hour; and premium membership which also includes a $30/month fee (in addition to $20). The premium membership lets users interview and select their Papa Pal team.
…
We cover more companies in our report, Senior Care 2.0. You can check it out from here.