Bianca Padilla and Jonathan Magolnick knew the hardships of family caregiving. So when the opportunity arose to help others in similar situations, they didn't hesitate.
The result? Carewell, an e-commerce platform designed to improve the lives of family caregivers, founded in 2015 by the husband and wife team.
Padilla said she and Magolnick created the business based on their own experiences with family caregiving. Padilla bore witness to her mother's role as caregiver to her own mother -- Padilla's grandmother -- while also raising Padilla's younger sister.
At the time, she said, the products, services and resources her family needed just didn't exist in one place, so they created it themselves. Carewell allows customers to purchase all of the supplies they might need as in-home caregivers. Incontinence products, medical supplies, nutritional and personal care products are all available, along with resources to ease the stress of long-term caregiving.
"We were unable to find the guidance and selection of tools we needed all in once place," she said. "We formed Carewell to be a source of support for those seeking proactive service, compelling content and expert products."
Though Carewell started in Miami, the pair saw more opportunity in Charlotte and moved the business in 2017.
"We moved [to Charlotte] to bootstrap the company," Padilla said. "We were looking at lower costs, fast-growing cities with really ambitious and smart people... [Charlotte felt like] a place that is extremely kind and generous and family-oriented, and that's what Carewell is."
The company recently closed on a $5 million seed round, backed by venture firm e.ventures, NextView Ventures and early-stage investor Primetime Partners.
Padilla said she and Magolnick have already put the funds to use by more than doubling their team from 10 to 27 people. Additionally, she said Carewell will work on expanding its product offerings, creating new educational resources for customers and providing additional specialized training for customer care associates.
"The funding is just step one toward providing more education and awareness around this increasingly necessary caregiver role," she said. We've got the right people on board from engineering to marketing to customer care staff."
Most recently, Padilla said Carewell launched a subscription service that gives caregivers the ability to order frequently purchased items on a schedule.
"Subscription ordering is something a lot of our customers have been asking for," she said. "It launched on June 1, and it's been great."
