HomeHero Raises $23 Million to Expand In-Home Senior Care to More Cities

Business Wire

Series A Round to Fuel Company Expansion and Growth into New Markets

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Today, HomeHero (www.homehero.org), a trusted senior home care marketplace, announced a $20 million Series A funding round, bringing its total funding to $23 million. This latest round was led by Graham Holdings Company with participation from Social+Capital Partnership, Tencent Holdings Limited and The Launch Fund. Proceeds from the round will support the company’s expansion into new markets, starting with San Diego and San Francisco, as well as help facilitate key new hires. The previous $3 million seed round last year was led by Social+Capital Partnership and included Science Inc. and Jason Calacanis of The Launch Fund.

“The rapid growth of our business has created a need to scale our team as we expand beyond our Los Angeles launch market into additional cities with large senior populations, like San Diego and San Francisco,” said Kyle Hill, CEO and co-founder of HomeHero. “This funding will allow us to develop the new products and operations we need to grow the company, while still maintaining the excellent service and quality our clients expect.”

HomeHero helps families find, hire and manage affordable in-home care through an online marketplace of thousands of experienced caregivers, referred to as “Heroes.” The site provides access to high-quality video profiles, rigorous background checks, and references/reviews, so families are matched with the most reliable, trusted caregivers for their aging loved ones. Already the market leader in the in-home care space, HomeHero has provided 1 million hours of care to seniors in the greater Los Angeles metro area since launching in January 2014 and has onboarded more than 1,500 caregivers—each with a high-quality photo and video interview. With the number of Americans over the age of 65 expected to nearly double to 84 million by 2050, HomeHero addresses the timely challenge of caring for a growing aging population.

"The opportunity to improve the lives of our loved ones when they require care at home is important and meaningful. As a society, we can and must do better. HomeHero can be a large part of that solution,” said Timothy O’Shaughnessy, President of Graham Holdings Company.

One of the first key hires as a result of the funding is Joe Nigro, former East Coast General Manager of home services startup Handy, who has joined HomeHero as its new Head of Growth. Nigro played a pivotal role in Handy’s expansion into key northeast markets after the marketplace he founded was acquired by the company, and will leverage his insight and expertise to help HomeHero navigate recruiting, onboarding and management of new markets in the next phase of expansion.

“HomeHero is answering the growing demand for tech innovation in the senior care marketplace, with a range of truly dynamic solutions to the challenges facing seniors and their families,” said Chamath Palihapitiya, founder and managing partner of The Social+Capital Partnership. “We’re looking forward to helping them introduce more key hires and grow to offer HomeHero’s services across the country.”

For more information, visit www.homehero.org.

About HomeHero:
HomeHero is a trusted marketplace designed to help families find, hire and manage quality in-home care for seniors. The simple online and mobile experience decreases the time, cost and risk of finding local caregivers through access to high definition caregiver video profiles, social references, liability insurance, and easy scheduling and payment tools. The services offered are non-medical, and cover a wide range of tasks including shopping, meal preparation, exercise, light housekeeping, companionship and personal care. The company is providing affordable solutions to care rapidly rising care costs that create a financial burden on families. HomeHero was launched in 2014 by Mike Townsend and Kyle Hill, who saw a need for a more trusted senior care service after struggling to help their loved ones connect with and manage their in-home caregivers. HomeHero has 18 employees and is located in Santa Monica, CA. For more information, visit http://www.homehero.org.

About Graham Holdings Company:
Graham Holdings Company (NYSE:GHC) is a diversified education and media company whose operations include educational services; television broadcasting; online, print and local TV news; home health and hospice care; and manufacturing. The Company owns Kaplan, a leading global provider of educational services; Graham Media Group (WDIV–Detroit, KPRC–Houston, WKMG–Orlando, KSAT–San Antonio, WJXT–Jacksonville); The Slate Group (Slate and Panoply); and Foreign Policy. The Company also owns Trove, a social news aggregator; SocialCode, a leading social marketing solutions company; Celtic Healthcare and Residential Healthcare Group, home health and hospice providers; Joyce/Dayton Corp., a manufacturer of screw jacks, linear actuators and lifting systems; and Forney Corporation, a manufacturer of burners, igniters, dampers and controls for combustion processes in electric utility and industrial applications. For more information, visit http://ghco.com.