Curam, a UK-wide carer platform that has set out to use technology to positively disrupt the UK’s GBP38 billion social care sector, has launched of its Series A round of fundraising.
Since its launch in 2018, Curam has raised GBP3.6 million from high net worth and angel investors, and has rolled out its Curamcare platform and app across all the UK’s 124 postcode areas. The software behind the platform and app was designed and developed in-house in order to suit precisely the needs of care workers and their clients. With Curamcare, carers receive on average 25 per cent higher earnings than the industry norm, while clients pay on average 10 per cent less.
Curam is now looking to raise a further GBP4 million from institutional investors to fund the development of its platform, and to fund the continued growth of carer and client numbers.
Despite the huge impact of coronavirus across the sector, Curam’s revenues grew c350 per cent over the last year. The pace of growth is accelerating as the UK emerges from lockdown and as carers and clients see the advantages of adopting the Curam platform.
Curam operates from offices in London (HQ and marketing), Dumfries (recruitment, finance and client services), Wicklow, Ireland (sales) and Gujarat, India (software development). It was created with a radical objective: to lead the way in socially conscious care provision by building a better care community online that pays carers what they deserve. Traditional domiciliary care (care in the home) costs clients (those in need of care, their families, or the local authority) approximately GBP17 an hour. Of this, the carer receives between GBP8-GBP9 per hour. With Curam, clients pay an average of GBP16 per hour with carers receiving on average just under GBP14 per hour after Curam’s fees.
Curam’s innovative technology is the largest source of self-employed carers in the UK. The clients, case managers and discharge nurses who use the platform are able to post their care requirements and connect with carers whose profile matches their needs, and then interview whoever they feel is best suited to the person they’re arranging care for, before deciding to hire them.
Patrick Wallace, Co-founder of Curamcare, says: “At the moment around half of funding for home care goes to the care assistant – who ends up with barely the minimum wage. The rest gets swallowed by care agency administrative costs.
“To date, tech (despite much hype) has made barely any inroads into homecare but our app-based platform – essentially a tailor-made, scalable solution that connects families with suitable carers — means that 85 per cent of funding reaches the carer, who then receive on average over 150 per cent of the minimum wage.
“Better paid carers, who can accept offers of work as they wish, provide better quality care, and are likely to continue training and stay in the industry. Continuity is very important in this space, particularly for clients living with dementia or autism.”
Jane Williams, Client Support Manager, says: “Creating a proper tailor-made online market for carers lets the best people shine and by solving low pay for carers, leads to a long-term career, not a short-term job. We are committed to building a better care community which works for all.”