With $17M funding round, senior caregiving startup TCARE plans to hire 100 employees

Sep 22, 2022 2 min read
With $17M funding round, senior caregiving startup TCARE plans to hire 100 employees
Ali Ahmadi, founder and CEO of TCARE

Originally published by The Business Journals on September 8, 2022

TCARE Inc., a fast-growing, St. Louis-based startup that provides technology to help family caregivers, plans to hire at least 100 employees after raising $17 million from investors.

TCARE said Thursday it has secured $17 million in an oversubscribed Series A funding round led by New York-based American Family Ventures. The financing included several new investors in TCARE, including Ziegler Link-age Funds, Unum Ventures, Inception Health, Sompo Holdings and Plug & Play Ventures. Return investors in the round include St. Louis-based SixThirty Ventures, Aflac Ventures, Blu Ventures, 25madison and Connetic Ventures.

The Series A round brings TCARE’s total capital raised since its founding to $20 million and follows a $3 million seed financing closed in 2020.

TCARE, which was spun out of research from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, provides an evidence-based analytics program that allows social workers, care managers and care coordinators to help family members and caregivers responsible for seniors. Its technology has also been used by those caring for foster care children and kids with special needs. TCARE works with managed care organizations and government agencies as well as health, life and long-term care insurance carriers. The company’s platform is designed to reduce long-term caregiver burnout and limit the need to turn to alternative care options such as nursing homes and hospital stays.

“TCARE has 15+ years of longitudinal data and outcomes on caregivers that identifies their risk factors to burnout and suggests proven interventions. Their ability to tailor an individual caregiver care plan and measure the cost savings of those interventions is impactful,” said Brittany Clements, managing director at American Family Ventures. “Furthermore, TCARE’s growth has proven their business model alignment with enterprise clients, and we’re impressed with their ability to execute with several Fortune 100 companies.”

TCARE, initially based in Wisconsin, relocated to St. Louis in 2019 after winning funding from local nonprofit startup funder Arch Grants. It has experienced rapid growth in recent years, tripling its annual recurring revenue year over year and grown to a team of 164 employees, with about 30 employees based in St. Louis. TCARE’s headquarters is located at 3101 Olive St. in Midtown.

CEO Ali Ahmadi said TCARE has been able to grow so quickly thanks to the outcomes created for seniors and caregivers through its technology, which has helped it lure new customers and expand existing commercial partnerships. He said the aging U.S. population and a focus by politicians on enhancing senior care has also propelled the startup.

“Medicaid and Medicare benefit expansion both in the current administration and the previous administration, as this is a bipartisan project, has made the timing right that has led to TCARE’s growth,” Ahmadi said.

As it seeks expansion, TCARE plans to put an emphasis on growing its team, with the expectation it will add at least 100 employees in the next year in roles across the company, including product development and caregiver support.

TCARE’s funding round includes several corporate venture investors, with Ahmadi saying the company’s successful deployment of its technology has helped companies seek out investing in the startup in addition to being its customer.

“Once you have success with a strategic partner, then on the venture side, their hands are open to partner with you,” Ahmadi said. “What the best type of funding to get secured (is) with your customers, especially in this given market where venture can be somewhat limited or tight in other areas. When it comes to getting funding from your own existing customers, that is less limited."

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