The UK’s fastest-growing “tech-enabled” digital care company has acquired a Plymouth based firm that provides services for hundreds of people in Devon just months after securing £54m from investors.
Private healthcare firm Cera has made what it calls “a strategic move into the South West of England” with the acquisition of Gemcare South West.
Cera said it is delivering on its ambition to create 10,000 jobs in social care across the UK and will be launching a recruitment drive for new carers across Devon and Cornwall and aims to expand its reach by creating a further 1,000 jobs over the next year.
Cera is a leading home care provider, co-founded by doctor, and health policy specialist Dr Ben Maruthappu in 2016, alongside engineers and entrepreneurs Marek Sacha, and Martin Ocenas.
(Image: Google)
It is headquartered in London, regulated by the Quality Care Commission, and provides more than 10,000 care visits each day.
The company, which employs about 2,000 people already, has become well known for its sector-leading use of technology. Cera’s app means carers, medical practitioners, and families can access the most up-to-date information.
Cera has received more than 25 awards including Outstanding Home Care Provider and Best Technology at the National Home Care Awards.
It has partnerships with organisations such as the NHS, Uber, Deliveroo and IBM and holds about 50 public sector contracts.
In March 2020 it rolled out its SmartCare analytics platform after securing £54million in equity and debt financing from investors such as Yabeo and Guinness Asset Management, The tech helps predict and prevent health deteriorations in the elderly before they occur.
The finance was also intended to enable Cera to swallow other businesses, and came shortly after the start-up acquired Mears Care, one of the UK’s leading care companies, in a £30million deal.
Gemcare South West, headquartered in the Peverell area of Plymouth, is an experienced social care provider delivering care and support services for more than 340 people.
In 2019 the company took over the domiciliary care arrangements provided by another Pymouth-based firm 1st Call Homecare, including the care and support staff, after that company went into administration.
Business Live’s Plymouth journalist is William Telford, business editor at Plymouth Live.
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It thus assisted Plymouth City Council in servicing additional personal care contracts in the community and within seven extra care sites across the city, and took on about 100 of 1st Call Homecare’s employees.
Yvonne Hignell, Cera’s chief operations officer, who joined the business in April 2020, said: “We’re transforming home care by empowering our carers with technology that helps them be their best.
“Gemcare is an exciting expansion of our services into the South West of England, enabling us to support more people age healthily and independently in their own homes.
“Our growth and expansion during a critical period of crisis for the sector and the economy means we’re helping more people start a career in care by opening up new jobs in the South West with the opportunity to join a company that puts their people and customers at the heart of its innovation.
“We look forward to welcoming Gemcare’s employees into the Cera family and introducing ourselves to our customers over the coming weeks.”
