Will and Chris Donnelly and their grandmother Gloria
(Picture: Lottie )Two brothers have raised millions of pounds in funding for their elderly care search platform they launched after struggling to find a care home for their grandmother.
Chris Donnelly and healthcare expert brother Will Donnelly launched Lottie in July 2021. The free digital healthcare marketplace helps families minimize the time, stress and cost of finding quality care homes.
The brothers say it is first comparison website for residential care as well as independent living, offering a concierge service as well.
In a funding round led by early stage venture capital firm Kindred, the brothers secured £2.5m investment from angel and Zoopla executive, David Wascha as well as former Airbnb and Facebook director, Caroline Hudack. Tom Blomfield and Lendable co-founder Victoria van Lennep also reinvested. This added to the £500,000 they initially received from Monzo founder Tom Blomfield.
Raising £3m to date with a £27.5m valuation, Lottie’s fresh injection of capital comes after American counterpart, A Place for Mom, announced a $175m funding round in January led by Insight Partners, and $1+bn valuation.
The UK elderly care sector comprises 12,500 care homes with a combined total of 480,000 registered beds. A rapidly ageing population means the category is currently forecast to be unsustainable beyond 2028 without increased investment and new technology innovation.
Lottie has grown its market place from 200 properties in London and the South-East of England, to over 1,000 facilities across England.
Detangling the complicated and confusing landscape of social care, the company has helped thousands of families so far.
The new funding will be used to supercharge Lottie’s marketplace expansion and care concierge services across the UK, as well as extending the company’s offering to the independent living sector - a market forecast to grow due to the rising demand for age-fit accommodation from the 55+ population.
Lottie plans to friendly advisors who can handle the whole care home search process from researching facilities, discussing care requirements, negotiating residency fees as well as overseeing the legal process.
The investment will also go towards building the business’ expert team of local care and technology professionals in addition to developing the technology to make it even simpler for new care seekers to navigate the website.
Lottie’s co-founders also have their eyes set on enhancing the intuitiveness of the platform through the incorporation of artificial intelligence in the future.
Will Donnelly spent 5 years at CBRE, where he advised on £2.5bn of healthcare transactions, while supporting the NHS during Covid.
He said: “Finding a high-quality care home is complex, time-consuming and incredibly stressful, with nearly half of families regretting their decision.
“Chris and I believe there is a different way. We’ve flipped the industry dynamics to challenge the market’s long-standing status quo. Lottie was built first and foremost to champion and support care seekers, not other key sector stakeholders.
“Most first-time care choices take place following a sudden illness, injury or loss of carer, meaning decisions are often made urgently and under distressing circumstances - an emotional process, which requires real human expertise and support.”
Maria Palma, General Partner at Kindred, said: “Sorting care for aging family members is one of the most crucial decisions you make, and yet the current process of finding a home or knowing your options is broken, fragmented, and leaves little peace of mind about the quality of care your loved one will actually receive.
“I’m incredibly excited to be backing the Lottie team, who have a killer combination of relevant experience in the sector and deep passion for improving the standard of care.”
