Global VCs back Lottie with £16.4m investment
Explore how Lottie's £16.4m investment is set to innovate the UK care sector, offering a seamless, transparent care-seeking experience.
Embarking on a journey through the intricacies of the health tech world, one cannot help but be captivated by the innovative strides of Lottie. This free online marketplace has become a beacon of hope and transformation in the UK’s care sector. With a recent injection of a staggering £16.4 million in Series A funding, led by the renowned Accel and with participation from General Catalyst, Lottie is not merely a business; it's a mission-driven entity aiming to reshape and elevate the standards and accessibility of care across the UK.
Amid a care home availability crisis, which has plummeted to its lowest in over a decade, and a daunting £2.3 billion shortfall in England’s care home funding, Lottie emerges as a pivotal player, bridging the gap between care seekers and providers. The platform, founded by brothers Will and Chris Donnelly in 2021, was birthed from personal struggles of finding affordable, quality care services for family members. Their vision was clear: to modernise the process of finding care, ensuring that standards are not merely met but exceeded, and ultimately elevate the older generation's later life.
Lottie’s approach is not merely transactional; it’s transformational. It is set to become the UK’s first end-to-end marketplace experience for finding care. It simplifies the search process to enable anyone to seamlessly book care online, akin to reserving a hotel room via platforms like Booking.com or Expedia. Care seekers can find, compare, and enquire directly with more than 4,000 high-quality care, home care, and retirement living services while also having the support of Lottie’s team of care experts through each stage of the search process. Moreover, Lottie grants full transparency of pricing and service availability, an industry first that ensures care seekers can see exactly how much their care will cost and whether the service is accepting new clients.
The emotional and often stressful journey of finding suitable care is further complicated by a lack of up-to-date information on services and no support throughout what can be a distressing time. With its innovative platform, Lottie simplifies the search process and provides a much-needed emotional and practical support system for care seekers. The platform also ensures that care seekers have a real sense of how much care should cost, providing transparency and support during times fraught with emotional and financial stress.
But Lottie’s innovation doesn’t stop at the care seekers. Beyond its core marketplace, it has developed "Found by Lottie", – a suite of technology tools acquired in 2022 designed to upgrade the outdated services offered within care homes. Found offers care providers powerful tools to effectively manage enquiries, customer relationships, networking, occupancy, finance and billing, and show real-time bed availability. This enhances the operational efficiency of care providers and ensures that care seekers have access to real-time, accurate information regarding bed availability and services offered.
The startup has witnessed a 300% growth in customers and revenue over the last 12 months, with more than 500,000 monthly users. This is not merely a testament to its business acumen but a reflection of its ability to resonate with and meet the needs of care seekers and providers alike. Co-CEO Will Donnelly encapsulates the essence of Lottie, stating, “Everyone deserves the best possible quality of life in their later years, and Lottie is helping to drive real change in the care search process while supporting our provider partners in delivering better health outcomes for residents, improved operational efficiencies and huge cost savings via our software products.”
Lottie’s journey is not merely its own. It is intertwined with the stories of over 500,000 Britons who visit Lottie monthly, seeking support, transparency, and a simplified process during one of life’s most challenging times. With the recent investment and a clear, compassionate vision, Lottie is not just on a trajectory of business success.
In the words of Sonali De Rycker, partner at Accel, “Digital marketplaces have transformed our lives. We expect glossy, transparent, low-touch experiences when booking holidays, buying groceries and doing everything in between. For some reason, eldercare has been left behind. Will and Chris are on a mission to level up an industry stuck in the dark ages. Lottie offers consumers the modern discovery and booking experience they deserve when finding help for loved ones. In parallel, they offer care providers tools to shift online and upgrade their operations.”