Naborforce, a Richmond startup that connects services to seniors to help them age in place, sees its recent expansion to Atlanta as just the start to larger growth plans.
The company’s tech-based platform links aging adults to a network of "Nabors" for social engagement and on-demand support with errands, transportation, help around the house and other things.
“We see our business growing,” said founder and CEO Paige Wilson, who added that the rising number of people over 80 — a population she said will triple in size over the next three decades — and their increased desire to stay out of places like retirement communities and nursing homes showcases the potential for her company. The average age of a Naborforce client is 83 years old.
“Family caregivers are dropping in half,” she said. “For home care, there’s a huge shortage of care workers.”
The Atlanta expansion followed a move into Charlotte and other areas of North Carolina that Wilson said exceeded expectations. She’s planning on moving Naborforce into six more U.S. markets by the end of the year and said she would like to move more quickly into additional areas after that.
Wilson said her biggest current challenges are hiring for tech positions and getting to markets quick enough to meet demand.
To help with growth, the company recently appointed Michael Bor, the founding CEO of Richmond-based CarLotz, which has a nationwide network of car resale hubs, to Naborforce’s board of directors. (Bor was recently replaced as chief exec of CarLotz). The pair met through Startup Virginia, a nonprofit high-growth business incubator and entrepreneurial hub.
“Michael is very successful at scaling geographically,” said Wilson, who said Bor, like her, develops playbooks for specific markets. “Michael really was very successful at scaling a company quickly, raising outside capital and rolling out in geographic regions, which is what we're doing.”
Naborforce’s lead investor, Nashville, Tennessee, private equity form Claritas Capital, is ensconced in the health care world — adjacent to her company — so adding Bor, with his experience in expansion, brings a good mix to the board, she said.
“I love that he was very consumer-centric,” Wilson said of Bor. “He disrupted a market, and we did too.”
Wilson said nearly all of Naborforce’s customers are return users with its best publicity being word of mouth. Wilson declined to disclose specific revenue, she did say that revenue run rate is up nearly four times from what it was a year ago. She said Naborforce, which has a headcount of 13 full-time and four half-time employees, is not yet profitable.
The company has raised $3.3 million in funding since its founding in 2018, according to Crunchbase.
