One of the toughest decisions seniors and their adult children often have to make is picking a care facility. One healthcare startup confronting that challenge is Cariloop. Its service reflects the growing trend of the healthcare industry adopting services more commonly found on the likes of dating websites like Match.com or hospitality industry sites like Expedia or Hotels.com. It helps them with the overwhelming task of navigating senior care homes to find the best fit.
Michael Walsh is the co-founder and CEO of Richardson, Texas-based Cariloop. Although he acknowledges that an online senior care guide isn’t exactly a new concept with sites like Caring.com and APlaceforMom, Walsh said its service offers something different.
“What we’re trying to do is carve out a space for people who want to have more control over their healthcare decisions. We’re trying to do that instead of asking a 45-year-old what she thinks her parents need.”
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It just raised $400,000 in seed capital, according to a company statement. Dallas-based Green Park & Golf Ventures and Fort Worth-based Corbett Capital led the financing round. The funding will help it develop distribution channels across Texas. It also added a board seat for the recently retired president of Texas Health Resources Physicians Group, Dr. Michael Stoltz.
Although Cariloop’s service is currently only available in Texas, that could change depending on the demand.
Adult children of seniors are one of its target users because they have the tech savvy and patience for using a Web-based tool. A mobile app is in development. Its search wizard finds out what the circumstances of the move are, as well as questions about insurance, budget, pets, whether they want a private room.
The nine types of facilities from which users can choose include independent living, assisted living, residential care homes, adult daycare, non-medical home care, hospice, skilled nursing facilities, home health and memory health. This term memory health was new to me, but it includes space in facilities for people affected by dementia, Alzheimer’s disease or other neurological conditions. It also requires extra certification to offer it.
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Providers don’t pay for the service until the company brings them customers.
A graduate of the Health Wildcatters accelerator, Cariloop launched a beta version of the site one year ago and has made the service live within the past six months with 10 to 12 staff members. So far, it has signed on 250 to 300 providers with a long-term goal of 1,500.