As our population ages, this startup is turning direct care into a contract economy platform – TechCrunch
As the world’s population grows older and older, healthcare is rapidly being digitalized and “platformed” to accommodate the massive scale of change that is coming our way. I recently mention how Cera in the UK just raised $320 million to move patient monitoring to homes instead of overcrowded hospitals.
Now, another startup aims to create an almost “gig economy” platform for people providing direct care to the elderly, this time in Europe.
Marta, the European digital platform for direct care, says that when people try to arrange this type of care for their elderly loved one, up to six intermediaries are involved and four of five failed positions. Marta’s solution is an AI-driven matching platform where carers for live placements can be found. I guess you could call it UpWork for direct care?
It has now raised €6.6 million in a seed round led by Capnamic, along with co-led Almaz Capital. Ithaca, GMPVC, SumUp Impact Fund and angels also participated. Existing investors such as Christian Vollmann, Johannes Schaback, Laura Esnola, Dr Steffen Zoller and Julian Stiefel also participated.
The startup now plans to scale in European markets such as Germany, Poland, Romania and Lithuania.
The market it is addressing is a €18 billion market in the DACH region alone.
Since Germany alone has more than 4 million people looking for home care and only 280,000 carers are able to do so, the market is sizable.
Marta says its algorithmic marketplace enables matchmaking between care seekers and carers, increasing transparency and the person-to-person experience.
“There are hundreds of examples of how care for the elderly can go wrong, and it is virtually impossible for humans to accurately predict location success because it only has so many data points. We have seen how difficult it is to organize care with our grandparents. Aging is a normal process and shouldn’t pose a big problem. We believe we can significantly leverage technology to help seniors and their families and carers,” said Jan Hoffmann, co-founder of marta.
Marta founders Philipp Buhr and Hoffmann started marta in 2020 after having trouble finding carers for a loved one.
“Marta has created a transparent marketplace where it connects carers directly with families looking for care. At this point, a truly unique approach is based on digitization. We’ve been following the marta for the past few months and have been impressed by the technology and traction the team has provided. Most importantly, we are excited about the enthusiasm of the teams in tackling a paramount social issue,” adds Jörg Binnenbrücker, founding partner at Capnamic.
