Careship, the German marketplace for in-home care, scores further €6M funding

Careship, the German marketplace for in-home senior care, has raised €6 million in further funding. The round is led by Creandum, the European early-stage investor best known for being an early backer of Spotify, and will be used by the Berlin startup to further expand nationally.

In addition to Creandum, European ‘impact’ investor Ananda Ventures joined the round, with participation from existing backers Spark Capital, Atlantic Labs, and Axel Springer Plug and Play. Careship had previously raised €4 million, disclosed in January 2017.

Founded in 2015 by siblings Antonia and Nikolaus Albert after they could not find a suitable caregiver for their grandmother, Careship operates a marketplace for caregivers that aims to disrupt the traditional agency model. The marketplace connects families needing elderly care with access to qualified personnel using a “matchmaking algorithm” to help solve the suitability problem.

There are other value-adds, too, such as advising on insurance benefits. In Germany, elderly care is funded by a state health insurance system and Careship co-founder Antonia Albert tells me the company has a 50/50 mix of state-funded and private customers. “If you are care dependent in Germany, you are eligible to care and companionship services and get state-funded budgets for them,” she says. Careship also offers general consultation to help you choose the best care option.

Noteworthy, caregivers on the platform set their own price, similar to the U.K.’s HomeTouch. Likewise, Careship handles billing and coordinating insurances, in addition to keeping families connected and therefore remains a central point of contact and is arguably not prone to disintermediation.

As it stands, Careship is based in Berlin and the service is also available in three other major German cities as well as the area of North Rhine-Westphalia. Albert tells me the new funding will see the startup add more coverage across Germany in 2018 and that the broader aim is to go international. “[The] long-term vision is to make Careship available to as many families as possible in Europe,” she says.

Meanwhile, direct competitors are cited as traditional “ambulatory care provides” in Germany as well as other care platforms, such as Rocket Internet’s Pflegetiger, which operates a full stack not marketplace model, and care marketplace Pflegix.