Care Sourcer, the care comparison and matching site, has raised an £8.5m funding round from two investors, Legal & General and ADV.
This investment will enable Care Sourcer to expand its care matching technology UK-wide, helping to tackle the crisis in care that costs NHS England £8m every day.
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Care Sourcer has raised £9m to date since launch in June 2016. The investment — which is the largest ever Series A funding round to be received by a digital tech company in Scotland will help the Scottish tech pioneers expand their care matching technology UK-wide, and grow the existing team from 20 employees to 100 by the year 2020.
With this investment, Care Sourcer aims to directly tackle the NHS’s ‘bed-blocking’ crisis, a major issue the organisation faces 70 years on from its creation. NHS England alone reported over 150,000 Delayed Transfer of Care days in March 2018, which is the number of days that someone who is medically fit for discharge is still occupying a bed [1]. These delays, also known as “delayed discharge”, cost NHS England £3bn annually, or £8m per day, and also force the NHS to cancel operations and increase waiting times in A&E [2]. Care Sourcer’s care matching technology can address nearly half (47%) of these delayed discharge cases by matching people with care homes or care at home providers within 48 hours — a staggering potential saving to the NHS.
Andrew McGinley, co-founder and CEO of Care Sourcer said: “Right now, too many people are waiting weeks or even months for care – this causes incredible stress for people and their families, and it’s also a huge expense to our health system. People deserve better than this broken status quo and we know that our technology can help.
“We’ve had incredible feedback from people who have already found care through Care Sourcer and with backing from Legal & General and ADV, we’re kicking off our next stage of growth and UK-wide expansion. Our talented team is incredibly motivated to make sure that nobody in the UK has to wait for care when they need it.”
Legal & General Retirement Retail were the lead investors of the funding round, investing £6m. ADV, who had previously invested during Care Sourcer’s seed round, followed on with a £2.5m investment.
Chris Knight, CEO of Legal & General Retirement Retail, said: “Our investment in Care Sourcer will not only directly improve the lives of many of our customers – both recipients of care, and family and other carers trying to find a care solution for loved ones – but it also contributes to our long term purpose of building a better society. By addressing Delayed Transfer of Care, a key issue in the UK’s care provision and a huge cost to the NHS England budget, not only have Care Sourcer devised a strong business concept but it is an innovative solution that brings choice and transparency to the UK care market. We are looking forward to working more with the Care Sourcer team who share our commitment to resolving issues in UK care provision.”
Mike Dimelow, CIO at ADV, commented: “This is an excellent example of the right team, timing and opportunity coming together in a startup. With a fantastic mix of brains targeting an area which is a huge pain point globally, Care Sourcer has big potential to be generation-defining. The efficiency with which we allocate scarce services is paramount and Care Sourcer is on a mission to match those seeking care and quality providers within hours. Taking on investment from one of the UK’s largest financial institutions brings into sharp focus the importance of thinking about life post retirement for older adults. We’re excited to see Care Sourcer’s growth accelerate.”
The company also announced that it has appointed former Skyscanner COO Mark Logan to its board as a non-executive director and advisor. Logan, who was recently named as the first male ambassador to join Women’s Enterprise Scotland, joined Skyscanner in 2012 to take on the general management of the business, culminating in a £1.5billion acquisition in 2016 by Chinese travel firm Ctrip.
Mark Logan said on the investment: “Care Sourcer is one of the UK’s most exciting start-ups; it has the potential to make a hugely positive impact both on people’s lives and on the entire social care system. This investment enables Care Sourcer to expand its service rapidly, and I’m very excited at the prospect of helping the team to successfully scale the business.”
Paul Lewis, Managing Director at Scottish Enterprise said: “Securing this level of new investment is a tremendous achievement by Care Sourcer. Working with high growth start-up companies like this to realise their potential is at the heart of what we do, in order to help grow our economy and build a stronger and more equal society for Scotland. We look forward to continuing to work alongside the Care Sourcer team to support and implement their ambitious growth plans.”
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