Caregiving service startup Homage raises double-digit millions in Series B round

ON-DEMAND caregiving service startup Homage on Monday said it has raised double-digit millions in Series B funding in a round led by Singapore-based venture capital firm EV Growth, with new investors Alternate Ventures and KDV Capital, and existing investor HealthXCapital.

Previous funding includes a US$4.15 million Series A round in July 2018 co-led by Golden Gate Ventures and HealthXCapital, as well as a US$1.2 million seed investment from 500 Startups' South-east Asia fund, Golden Gate Ventures and SeedPlus in 2017.

Since its inception in 2017, the company has grown its (business-to-business) B2B operations by more than 400 per cent year-on-year in 2019, and sixfold for its Malaysian operations since the beginning of the year, said the Singapore-based startup in a press release. The company also has established a fully-screened pool of close to 2,000 qualified care professionals in South-east Asia, which it said was the "largest in the region".

Through its platform, Homage delivers personalised and holistic care to individuals, families and organisations to enable wellness and recovery, be it at home, point-to-point (for medical tourism or escort and transportation), or care within the health and aged-care facilities.

"In our next phase of growth, we look forward to partnering EV Growth to create more impact in our mission to provide deeper and more personalised support for our long-term care needs," said Gillian Tee, the co-founder and chief executive of Homage.

With the fresh funds, Homage intends to expand further across the Asia-Pacific through bettering the quality and pool of care professionals, with the hope of enabling better accessibility, affordability and reliability of caregiving services in the region.

It also wishes to scale delivery of its care services. The startup said it will "invest in its core network of care professionals to improve their professional capabilities, as well as launch holistic and personalised healthcare services through its care provider, enterprise and consumer mobile and web platforms".

There are also plans to use the funds to strengthen its network of qualified doctors and the medication-delivery capabilities of its medical service arm. Funds will be used to invest in its core services of skilled nursing, assistance with daily living activities as well as rehabilitation care - including physiotherapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy.

The company added that it will work to forge new partnerships with private- and public-sector stakeholders in its ecosystem to raise the accessibility and affordability of care, as well as invest further in the enterprise technology platform.

"An increasing ageing population and a low total fertility rate are inevitable. Urbanisation and a fast-paced working environment make caregiving service one of the key services in our daily life... We are proud to be part of the Homage journey to bring back caregiving with control, grace and dignity," said Willson Cuaca, managing partner of EV Growth and co-founder of East Ventures.

"Homage has built a strong presence and capability in Singapore. We want to bring the capability and level of service to Indonesia," added Mr Cuaca.

Recently, venture capital firm EV Growth raised an additional US$50 million for its first fund, bringing the fund to its hard cap - or maximum size - of US$250 million. The firm plans to deploy US$325 million for South-east Asian startups by combining active funds size for both seed and growth stage.