CareWork Inc. has launched its long-term health care software nationwide after raising a $1.5 million seed round.
Atlanta-based Valor Ventures led the fundraising round for Port Orange-based CareWork, which offers a software platform that streamlines operations for senior living centers and long-term care providers.
The capital from Valor Ventures and other private investors will fund CareWork as it builds out its team and adds to its platform in 2023, founder and CEO Jackie Ramieri told Orlando Inno.
Facilities that offer senior and long-term care must contend with intense regulatory oversight and staffing shortages. In fact, a 2022 American Health Care Association survey found 87% of surveyed nursing homes have staff shortages.
Founded in 2022, CareWork developed software that automates workflow to help businesses in the industry stretch their resources, using an organization’s existing data to provide insight on occupancy, labor, turnover, revenue, procurement and more.
By storing an organization’s information in one place, the CareWork platform allows Chattanooga, Tennessee-based senior care company Oakdale Seniors Alliance, an early adopter of the software, to make adjustments to its operations quickly.
“Automation means faster time to cash in the bank, less loss of revenue from untimely claim filings, better star ratings through clinical insights, a reduction in clinical errors and opportunity cost savings through efficiency for the entire organization,” Oakdale Seniors Alliance President Cyndi Matheny said in a prepared statement.
CareWork employed three people when the new year started, and it hired two additional employees in January. CareWork in February will hire two more people, as well as additional workers in the second half of the year to grow the CareWork staff to eight or nine people, Ramieri said.
One reason Valor Ventures was interested in CareWork is the fast-growing population of Americans who are 65-plus years old and will spend time in a long-term care facility at some point in their lives, General Partner Gary Peat said in a prepared statement. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates the number of Americans who are age 65-plus will grow from 54.1 million in 2019 to 80.8 million in 2040.
The value proposition poised by CareWork is “truly rare” in the digital health sector, said Peat, who joined CareWork’s board of directors after the investment. “While there are plenty of digital health startups every year, there are very few companies like CareWork that can realistically be adopted by a large percentage of the market in just a few years.”
Meanwhile, CareWork has four other goals for 2023, Ramieri said:
- Achieve $2 million annual recurring revenue
- Onboard 500 clients
- Release an additional module for the platform
- Release findings from five client case studies
Startup investment activity in the Daytona Beach metro was down at the end of last year, falling from $22.1 million in Q3 to $3.8 million in Q4, according to the latest data from PitchBook Data Inc. and the National Venture Capital Association.
However, the amount of investment metro Orlando tech companies raised in Q4 was up 1,081% from $9 million in Q3 and down a slight 0.8% from $107.2 million in Q4 2021.
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