Health tech firm hails landmark fundraising

An Edinburgh-based care comparison and matching website has raised what is described as the largest-ever Series A funding round to be received by a digital tech company in Scotland.

Care Sourcer said the £8.5 million from Legal & General Retirement Retail and tech-focused investment vehicle ADV will help expand its care-matching technology UK-wide, and grow the team from 20 to 100 by 2020. It has raised £9m since launch in June 2016.

Co-founder and chief executive Andrew McGinley said: “Right now, too many older people are waiting weeks or even months for care - this causes incredible stress for people and their families, and it’s also a huge expense to our health system, costing NHS Scotland £132 million every year.

“People deserve better than this broken status quo - the right care is quite often out there, but people struggle to access it quickly and effectively and we know that our technology can help.

“We’re already helping people here in Edinburgh and in London, and this investment allows us to expand our world-class team to bring our care matching technology to the whole of the UK.

The firm has also appointed former Skyscanner chief operating officer Mark Logan to its board as a non-executive director and advisor. He said:

“Care Sourcer is one of the UK’s most exciting start-ups; it has the potential to make a hugely positive impact both on people’s lives and on the entire social care system. This investment enables Care Sourcer to expand its service rapidly, and I’m very excited at the prospect of helping the team to successfully scale the business.”

Paul Lewis, managing director at Scottish Enterprise, also commented. “Securing this level of new investment is a tremendous achievement by Care Sourcer. Working with high-growth start-up companies like this to realise their potential is at the heart of what we do, in order to help grow our economy and build a stronger and more equal society for Scotland. We look forward to continuing to work alongside the Care Sourcer team to support and implement their ambitious growth plans.”