Carely Inc. — an online referral platform for both caregivers and professional care providers — has announced it has an agreement in place to acquire CareGiving.com, an online community for family caregivers.
The acquisition will help Dayton, Ohio-based Carely with its ultimate goal of enhancing the family caregiver experience through its platforms, Carely CEO and founder Mike Eidsaune told Home Health Care News.
Through an online platform and mobile application, Carely aims to simplify the navigation of the caregiver workforce for providers, caregivers and families.
Its main investor — Guidance Health — helped facilitate the deal. It came about because Denise Brown, CareGiving.com’s founder, reached out to Eidsaune to suggest a deal in the first place.
“She said to me, ‘Hey, listen, I know you guys really understand the technology side of this. If CareGiving.com is going to have a chance competing with what’s out there today in terms of online search and caregiver support, it’s going to need a higher level of sophistication,” Eidsaune told HHCN. “It was good timing.”
CareGiving.com will be revamped under the support of Carely, but will continue to act as its own website despite the sale.
It will help offer “both community and tailored resources for caregivers,” aiding their decisions when selecting care facilities and families as well as offering solutions to issues and other general support.
“We are keeping a distance,” Eidsaune said. “Other than it being a part of our general ecosystem, the site will remain relatively independent.”
The transaction was completed on Aug. 1. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
One of the main drivers of Carely and Eidsaune’s mission is fixing the online environment for caregivers. Right now, it’s driven by corporate interests that turn into sales calls and the wrong incentives, he said.
“It’s our sort of core belief that [these sites] don’t necessarily have the best interest of the consumer in mind when they’re making connections to providers,” Eidsaune said.
Carely is aiming to become not only an alternative solution to those sites, but the antidote to them.
“I shouldn’t have to give up my contact info and become a target, just to get a list of potential resources in my area. That to me doesn’t feel right,” Eidsaune said. “[We want] consumers to have the most real, up-to-date, clear picture and understanding of what each organization is all about.”
On the other side of the coin, that also helps providers paint a clearer picture of themselves moving forward.
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