SunaCare: building the next leader of elderly care
by : Bernhard Schmid
There’s room for much better in-home care services for the elderly people in Germany. We’re very proud to back SunaCare, the next leader, in their A round.
SunaCare provides in-home care services for elderly people in Germany. It’s a big issue, as Daniel Schlör and Ben Zacher would tell you (Ben also launched Pflege.de, the leading information portal for elderly care in Germany). If you need permanent care as you get older, there is little chance that you’ll want to go to a nursing home. Poor experience, prohibitive cost… and having to leave your house? No thank you. More and more people would rather have competent helpers come to their homes and provide them with adapted, personalized service.
The problem is, this kind of service is hard to access, especially for those who live outside of major cities. Families rely on local agencies that lack the network to reach out to caregivers. They also struggle to keep them around long enough, as turnover is high among caregivers. And we know how important it is for our parents or grandparents to have a reliable, steady service.
We are the first generation to manage elderly care online
This generation of daughters & sons, our generation, is the first one ever to have the reflex to seek for care services online. SunaCare’s strength in this context is to offer a digital service accessible across all Germany and fully rely on digital sourcing channels. They are in contact 24/7 with the families, manage the caregivers contract, and follow the relationship all along. It’s easy, it’s reassuring, and it’s inexpensive: thanks to technology, streamlined processes and just one centralized team, SunaCare is able to offer its services below market prices, which makes a huge difference.
And not only is it cheaper but it’s also safer: SunaCare provides the care in professional and legal fashion. The caregivers are fully employed, insured and paid according to German standards. Families know that there will always be somebody there for them in case of need for replacements. It really is the most convenient way to organize home-care.
A great business with positive impact
I love this kind of venture. A team with the straightforward ambition to build an industry leader in just a few years. Not only is it a good, healthy business, it also makes a real difference for families and senior people. Great value, lower prices, security for everyone involved: this is impact!
Daniel started the company with just a telephone line a few years ago, today close to a thousand families have trust in the SunaCare offering. Building a platform for in-home care services is not rocket science, but you have to do it and do it well. Of course, it’s not easy: you need very good systems and processes, and you are going to have to build them all on your own. Our portfolio company Mein Auto was in the same mindset: let’s sell cars online, the user experience will be great and the price substantially cheaper for everybody. Nobody did it like them, and it proved a great success (sold to HG in 2017).
So what’s next?
We are going to build a leader, in a market space we love and know very well. Last year XAnge invested in OuiHelp, who operates on the French market. OuiHelp offers tremendous value to families, by providing a digital service that is similar to SunaCare’s — with the extra challenge of helping caregivers reduce their daily travels and optimize their schedules : it improves their working conditions, gets them a job they can rely on and, overall, improves the quality of service for senior persons.
Homecare services are a lucrative business when properly managed. With the funding from XAnge, SunaCare has the power to build strong tools, recruit, and get ready for a long profitable growth!
