Cera, a technologically-oriented homecare start-up, announced today that it has secured £1.4 million more in seed funding, raking in a total of £2.7 million in the short span of six months. Existing investors Credo Ventures, based in Prague, led the round, with new institutional investors including Paris-based Kima Ventures also participating.
A CQC-registered homecare provider making use of state-of-the-art technology to improve quality & efficiency, it was co-founded a year ago by Dr Ben Maruthappu and Marek Sacha. It specializes in matching those needing social care with a highly experienced carer, at the right time, in the right place. Since officially launching in November 2016, Cera has made significant strides in care, now experiencing 40 per cent month-on-month growth.
The company has already signed contracts with 10 NHS organisations over the past 10 weeks, and plans to use the latest funding to kick-start additional partnerships with the NHS, better integrating health and social care services. The investment will also go towards its AI technology trials, to help predict healthcare issues, based on carer feedback on whether a patient hasn’t been eating, has a fever, or isn’t walking normally, with the motive of pre-empting more serious illnesses, in addition to supporting carer decision-making.
This latest announcement follows from Cera’s revelation that investor Neil Colverd, former Head of Americas for UniCredit bank, and previously CEO of Brightwater Capital’s $35 billion fund, has come on board to boost the company’s fundraising efforts, particularly focusing on acquisitions and developing the platform’s international footprint.
Dr Ben Maruthappu, Co-founder and President of Cera, said:
We are delighted to bring on additional investors with health, tech and financial expertise, to boost our development and growth as we reboot social care. In the past three months alone, we have signed partnerships with several NHS Trusts, Uber, insurers, food-tech companies and many others, scaling rapidly while delivering the highest standards of care.
To him, Cera is not just another on-demand service. It s in fact a holistic offering aiming to “revolutionise the way care is delivered in the UK with a focus on quality, reliability and transparency.” They are now looking toward signing even more similar deals in order to increase the accessibility of this service, and to focus their efforts on further technological innovation.
Andrej Kiska at Credo Ventures, said:
Credo is backing Cera because we believe they have a huge opportunity to improve and advance the way that care is delivered across Europe. Ben and Marek have extremely impressive individual backgrounds in healthcare and technology respectively, and their teamwork is reflected in the progress that has been made in just six short months since the launch. We are proud to be a part of their journey and are confident that Cera will continue to scale incredibly quickly.
