40% of U.S. adults today are responsible for taking care of an elderly or sick relative, according to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center and the California HealthCare Foundation. Despite this growing number, most caregivers do not want their aging relatives living with them. Instead, family members are seeking affordable caregivers to provide in-home care for seniors.
To solve this gap in senior home care, HomeHero, a trusted marketplace advancing the in-home senior care industry has announced a $20 million Series A funding round. The round was led by Graham Holdings with participation from Tencent Holdings Limited, The Social+Capital Partnership and Inside Holdings, Inc., bringing its total funding to $23 million.
To date, HomeHero has provided 1 million hours of care to seniors in the Greater Los Angeles metro area since launching in January 2014. The funding from the round will support the company’s expansion into new markets, starting with San Diego and San Francisco, as well as help facilitate key new hires. The previous $3 million seed round last year was led by Social+Capital Partnership and included Science Inc. and Jason Calacanis of Launch Fund.
Founded in 2014 by Mike Townsend and Kyle Hill, the Santa-Monica-based company helps families find, hire and manage affordable in-home care through an online marketplace of thousands of experienced caregivers, referred to as “Heroes”. The site provides access to high-quality video profiles, rigorous background checks, and references/reviews, so families are matched with the most reliable, trusted caregivers for their aging loved ones. With the number of Americans over the age of 65 expected to nearly double to 84 million by 2050, HomeHero addresses the timely challenge of caring for a growing aging population.
“The rapid growth of our business has created a need to scale our team as we expand beyond our Los Angeles launch market into additional cities with large senior populations, like San Diego and San Francisco,” said Kyle Hill, CEO and co-founder of HomeHero in an official statement. “This funding will allow us to develop the new products and operations we need to grow the company, while still maintaining the excellent service and quality our clients expect.”
Additionally, the company has hired Joe Nigro, former east coast General Manager of home services startup Handy as its new Head of Growth. Nigro played a pivotal role in Handy’s expansion into key northeast markets after the marketplace he founded was acquired by the company, and will leverage his insight and expertise to help HomeHero navigate recruiting, onboarding and management of new markets in the next phase of expansion.
