Online care platform SuperCarers has announced the close of a £3.8 million investment round, led by Mobeus Equity Partners with participation from existing investors and Seneca Partners.
SuperCarers provides a personal matchmaking service where families can find vetted, reliable and compassionate carers for their loved ones. Matches are made based on personality and interest, as well as care need, location and timing.
The new funding will enable the business to invest in growth, fulfilling its ambition to facilitate over 100,000 hours of care per month within the next 18 months and support clients across the country.
Some 2 million elderly people in the UK alone have a care-related need and 4 million will need daily help by 2029, yet by 2025 there will be a deficit of 600,000 carers in spite of increasing demand, according to a study by Age UK and Deloitte.
Local authorities often can’t keep up with the increasing costs or scale of care, leaving many without the critical assistance required to live their lives with dignity.
The company’s technology aims to make all aspects of coordinating and monitoring care simple – from booking shifts right through to paying invoices.
Through this use of smart technology, and by working only with the best, most experienced care professionals, SuperCarers says it bypasses the need for an agency middleman, resulting in savings for customers.
The business model also ensures that carers are rewarded fairly for their hard work, receiving 80 per cent of what the customer pays for live-in care.
High-profile backers
The brand is backed by the founders of Innocent Smoothies via their JamJar Investment Fund (other investments include Deliveroo, Graze and Babylon Health) and Sir Tom Hughes-Hallett, the former CEO of Marie Curie, now the Chairman of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
Adam Pike, CEO and Co-Founder of SuperCarers says, ‘The UK’s care system is at breaking point. Carers are trusted to look after the most vulnerable members of our society, but they are demotivated, poorly paid and as a consequence have limited incentive to deliver the best possible care. In turn, those requiring care often receive an overpriced, poor quality service that doesn’t suit their needs, and they have little to no control over the process.
‘SuperCarers solves both issues. We believe that by empowering and connecting people in the same community, care can become more personal, reliable and consistent. It is our mission to make finding, monitoring and paying for care easier and giving families the tools they need to find the right match for their loved ones. We also want to make care a more rewarding profession, one that is not only personally rewarding, but financially too.’
Richard Reed, partner at JamJar investment adds, ‘There is a rapidly growing consumer need for care as the numbers of dependent family members increases every year. Although care should be affordable and delivered to the highest standard by someone who is being fairly rewarded all too often this is not the case.
‘The founders Adam and Daniel genuinely understand the sensitivities and complexities necessary to deliver operational excellence and combine a technically slick back end with a great experience for families, older people and carers.’
