The HealthTech leader uses AI to deliver preventative, in-home care, to address the challenges that an overwhelmed emergency services, an ageing population and mounting waiting lists have caused. Its model has claimed to cut patient falls by 20 per cent, reduce emergency hospital admissions by up to 70 per cent, as well as speed up hospital discharges.
Cera has also pledged to tackle the healthcare staffing shortage, having received one million application for nurse or carer roles in the last two years to meet future workforce demand. It uses technology which streamlines travel and administrative tasks, which will help to free up carers’ time to provide an additional two hours of patient care a day. The new funding will support several initiatives like enhancing its AI technology, expanding specialised care and clinical trials and upskilling healthcare workers in AI.
The round was led by funds affiliated with BDT & MSD Partners and Schroders Capital in order to scale Cera’s platform. The company says this is highly AI-driven, with proprietary modeling based on its own data, although it admits to using some aspects of both Google’s Gemini AI platform as well as Microsoft’s version of ChatGPT.
In 2022 Cera raised $320 million (£260 million) in an equity and debt financing round, split roughly 50/50. According to CrunchBase it has 14 investors. Recognizable equity investors to date include Earlymarket, Guinness Ventures, DigitalHealth.London, and long-time U.K. investor Robin Klein.
Competitors in the U.K. include Home Instead and Bluebird Care, which use non-proprietary apps to direct their staff. In the U.S., the closest comparisons to Cera include Signify Health and CVS Health, both of which were acquired by Nasdaq-listed CVS Health. Another is Honor, which has raised $625 million to date.
Investors in Cera have expressed confidence in the HealthTech company’s ability to combine quality care with cost efficiency, seen through its 150 per cent five-year compound annual growth rate, and cash flow positive status. Vahit Alili of Schroders Capital said “Cera positively delivers across all components of the iron triangle of healthcare—quality, accessibility, and cost-efficiency.” Rob Platek, partner and global head of credit at BDT & MSD, said: “Cera has achieved strong growth through a demonstrated ability to leverage technology to deliver exceptional care. We believe Cera is well-positioned to further scale its business.”
