London-based homecare start-up, Cera Care, which uses digital and artificial intelligence to transform social care, has acquired care provider Mears Care.
Cera has over 2,000 employees, 20 offices across the country, delivering over 10,000 visits per day – a new care session every 10 seconds; with the acquisition growing Cera’s revenues by over £30 million.
This deal will accelerate Cera Care’s ambition to roll out its innovative technology more widely across the UK; and put Cera Care in the top 15 league of home care companies nationally, making it one of the largest social care providers in the UK, only three years since its launch in 2016.
Commenting on the acquisition, Cera Care’s co-founder and CEO, Dr Ben Maruthappu said:
“Our acquisition of Mears Care gives us the opportunity to transform a traditional care service into an innovative care provider, that operates on the frontier of revolutionising social care. This milestone will provide us with much greater national coverage, combined with a strong network and talent-base, that takes our offering to a new level, serving many more users, and empowering many more care workers – making Cera the leader in modern and effective elderly care.”
“Since our launch in 2016, we have demonstrated our commitment to improving the quality of care provided to older people. Through the development and use of pioneering new technologies, we are transforming the lives of users and front-line staff, while working with the NHS to deliver better integrated services across the country.”
Cera Care was co-founded by Dr Ben Maruthappu in 2016. Since then, the company has pushed boundaries with its Smart Care technology, ultimately providing invaluable support to carers, as well as helping individuals to stay in their home for longer.
Recent tech roll outs from the startup include its machine learning algorithms that predict health deteriorations before they occur with 83% accuracy, and its Dynamic Tasks platform – a so called Google Maps for care which uses AI to recommend actions to carers, with 93% accuracy. Through today’s acquisition, these innovations will become available to thousands of households up and down the country.
What started out as a small scale start-up in 2016, Cera Care today has over 2,000 employees, making it now one of the largest start-ups in the UK. With plans to make further acquisitions and diversify its services to complex care and home diagnostics, Cera aims to be at the forefront of quality-led, modern care services in the UK.
