Hometeam, a New York-based startup providing in-home care to seniors, is publicly launching today after operating in a stealthy beta for two years.
Powered by $11 million in funding from Lux Capital, IA Ventures and Recruit Strategic Partners, Hometeam was founded by Josh Bruno, a former investor at Bain Ventures, in 2013.
Since then, the company has placed over 250 caregivers in hundreds of homes across New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
“Caring for older adults is a massive problem that our country faces,” says Bruno. “There are 55 million adults taking care of their own parents, and 2.3 million professional caregivers.”
Bruno says that 92 percent of adults, when surveyed, would prefer to stay in their own homes than live in a nursing home. In many cases, family members are not equipped to manage caring for a senior relative, so hiring an in-home caregiver is the only alternative.
“There are 40,000 mom-and-pop agencies around the country that will match you with a caregiver, but if you’re not at home you can’t see what’s happening while you’re gone,” Bruno says.
Hometeam provides an iPad for each home with an app that the caregiver uses to track care and communicate with the family via texts, pictures and medical updates.
Hometeam also employs a team of nurses that periodically stop by to check on patients and make sure that their medical conditions are being managed correctly.
Applying tech to senior care is not necessarily a novel concept. Honor, an in-home care startup founded by ex-Googler Seth Sternberg, launched a few months ago with $20 million in funding and a very similar narrative.
Bruno says that Hometeam differentiates itself by hiring the best caregivers in the field and providing a highly personalized level of care. Hometeam caregivers are required to find an activity that each patient is passionate about and are given a budget to help them achieve it. This can be especially challenging when a person’s mobility is limited.
“A lot of seniors love working with flower gardens, so we’ll put a flower box in the window,” Bruno says. “If that senior’s mobile, we’re going on trips to the botanical garden, walking to the park, and doing gardening classes.”
Hometeam plans to open 15 new offices across nine states, including two in California, within the next year.