SuperCarers, the online care platform, has announced the close of a £3.8m investment round, led by Mobeus Equity Partners with participation from existing investors and Seneca Partners.
This 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.
Two million elderly people in the UK alone have a care related need and four million will need daily help by 2029 and yet by 2025 there will be a deficit of 600,000 carers in spite of increasing demand1. Local authorities 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.
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. It then provides easy-to-use technology which makes 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, experienced care professionals, SuperCarers bypasses the need for an agency middle-man. This results in significant savings for customers. It also enables consistency of care, necessary to form the relationships which enable fantastic care.
The business model also ensures that carers are rewarded fairly for their hard work, receiving 80% of what the customer pays for live-in care. This is in contrast to traditional agencies, which typically pay carers less than 40%2 . We believe that the only way to solve the UK’s deepening carer shortage crisis is to make the industry more attractive to new and existing carers; pay is only one factor but for those in low income brackets it makes a significant difference.
SuperCarers is the brainchild of brothers, Adam and Daniel Pike, who witnessed the inefficiencies of the care system first hand at a young age as their mother struggled to find high-quality care options for their grandmother. After Grandma Pam flooded her home for a second time, their mother was forced to put her into a care home for her final years – something she has regretted ever since. The brothers realized that the existing care system was not designed to give families what they really needed – quality, choice and control, at an affordable price. So they decided to change it.
The brand is backed by the founders of Innocent Smoothie 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.
SuperCarers’s advisory board is made up of experienced leaders in the sector including: Alan Rosenbach, who was until recently Director of Strategy of the Care Quality Commission (CQC); Paul Burstow, former Minister of State for Community and Social Care; Jan Burns MBE, Chair of the National Dignity Council; and Andrea Pope-Smith, Ex-Director of Adult Social Services at two Councils.
Adam Pike, CEO and Co-Founder of SuperCarers: “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: “JamJar is delighted to be an investor in SuperCarers. From our experience at Innocent drinks, we understand how important it is to develop a brand that connects with consumers and wins their loyalty. 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.”
Amit Hindocha, Mobeus Equity Partner Investment Director, “Mobeus identified the home care sector as requiring a fundamental redefinition to address the care crisis. There has been little innovation, and a technology solution is the only way to meet rising demand. Due to its excellent reputation and strong technology, we back SuperCarers to meet that need.”
John Davies, Investment Director for Seneca Partners: “Fundamentally, Seneca looks to back companies with a strong Management team, the ability/platform to scale and operating in growing sectors. SuperCarers is a great example of this and we look forward to supporting the team in delivering its ambitious growth strategy”
