Gubbe – Globally scalable elderly care
Gubbe’s elderly care service connects young assistants (Gubbe Helpers) with elderly people needing non-urgent care through Gubbe’s scalable tech platform. Gubbe addresses the resource challenges in the public elderly care sector and aspires to become the world’s best elderly care service.
Why?
The ageing population is a global megatrend. While the elderly population continues to grow, and require more care and support for living at home, there is simultaneously a severe shortage of professional caregivers. Nearly one-half of the elderly population experiences loneliness and lives a passive life. There is a global need for solutions that prevent the elderly from becoming passive and experiencing deterioration in physical and mental capabilities. Impact studies indicate that weekly visits by Gubbe Helpers have significantly increased the outdoor activities of elderly people, greatly improved their quality of life, and reduced feelings of loneliness.
What and how?
Gubbe has built a scalable technology platform that connects young Gubbe Helpers with elderly individuals needing non-urgent care. Gubbe trains these Helpers itself and after training the Helpers visit elderly people on a weekly or daily basis, supporting their physical and mental abilities and their wellbeing in the way each elderly person wants. The services of a Gubbe Helper can be ordered for an elderly person’s home by a family member, the public sector, or a company sponsoring Gubbe’s activities. Gubbe Helpers can handle up to 70 per cent of the tasks related to elderly care, thus easing the workload of homecare professionals and addressing the shortage of resources in the public sector for elderly home care.
Growth and internationalisation
In Europe alone, the elderly care market is estimated at 102 billion euros. Gubbe aims to be a global market leader and the best elderly care provider in preventive services worldwide. Alongside growth in Europe, Gubbe is looking to expand also in the USA and Japan. Gubbe’s scalable technology platform combined with a strong brand that is particularly attractive to young people seeking to become Gubbe Helpers are a spur to rapid growth. Through the Gubbe Academy, a recruitment process and training portal created by Gubbe, hundreds of Helpers can be recruited, trained and inducted for supportive tasks every month. Excellent customer experience, as testified by customer feedback, serves as an engine for growth, attracting elderly people and their families to order care services.
The importance of venture capital
Gubbe has raised a total of EUR 7 million in growth funding, allowing the company to internationalise and to develop its scalable technology platform. Tesi made its first investment in Gubbe in 2022, in a funding round led by Spintop Ventures. The investment was made from the Venture Bridge special investment programme that was created in response to the COVID-19 crisis and closed to initial investments in that same year. Tesi’s investment opened the door to the Japanese market, which is now being explored by the Japanese VC investor Mynavi Corporation, which later invested in Gubbe.
General information
The Gubbe story began with founder Sandra Lounamaa’s personal need to find help in caring for her grandmother living alone. Gubbe was founded in 2018 and has grown every year since then. Gubbe operates in Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom, employing 25 people at the end of 2023. There are roughly 2,000 active Gubbe Helpers, with an average age of 21. Gubbe’s vision is to generate net sales of EUR 100 million by the end of 2026. Gubbe has already been selected for Wired magazine’s list of Europe’s Hottest Startups.
