Yurtle, a London-based InsurTech aiming to address caregiver burnout in workplaces, has successfully closed a Seed funding round of £1.37m.
The round was co-led by Insurtech Gateway and Mustard Seed Maze, showcasing growing investor confidence in the company’s mission.
The investment is set to fuel Yurtle’s expansion plans, enabling it to grow its team and introduce the world’s first digital care ally.
The solution, known as Yurty, aims to provide scalable, affordable, and hyper-personalised caregiver support, ultimately fighting caregiver burnout in workplaces.
Through Yurtle’s app, employees can assess their caregiving responsibilities, a task often neglected by caregivers prioritising the needs of their family members. The app offers personalised advice to enhance caregiving effectiveness and guides users in leveraging their existing support networks to share caregiving duties.
This B2B solution aimed at alleviating caregiver burnout, which is funded by employers, assists caregivers in establishing a robust care team and provides a financial safety net for times when their health deteriorates.
Additionally, Yurtle provides an innovative insurance product designed to provide employees with peace of mind. In the event of illness or accident preventing them from fulfilling their usual caregiving role, this product ensures access to funding and backup care professionals, ensuring continuity of care for dependents.
Richard Chattock, CEO at Insurtech Gateway, said, “Caregiving is the single largest driver of underrepresentation of women in the senior leadership, it is behind the gender pension and pay gaps, and the lower participation of women in paid work. Yurtle’s product takes a direct approach to tackle this inequality, offering caregivers the community support and financial security necessary to look after their own health and career, while providing high-quality care to loved ones. We are proud to support Yurtle as they expand their product across the UK and beyond.”
The global demographic shift towards an ageing population underscores the critical need for solutions like Yurtle.
In the UK alone, 12,000 people each day are thrust into caregiving roles, resulting in significant personal and economic implications. Caregivers often face challenges in balancing their caregiving responsibilities with their careers, leading to burnout and productivity losses for employers.
Antonio Ribeiro, founder at Yurtle commented, “We believe there is no single systemic challenge more pressing or fascinating to solve for than our ageing population. We are thrilled to have secured funding that allows us to continue building the tools families need to meet their obligations of care for loved ones without sacrificing their health. With the formal announcement of Jose Ribeiro as Chairman of Yurtle, this is truly a mission to give others what we wish our family had access to in its time of need.”
Sofia Queiroz, Investment Principal at MSM added, “For MSM, tackling the challenge of a growing elderly population has always been an area of interest, considering the size of the problem and the impact potential. However, it was only clear to us after meeting Yurtle that a scalable business model could be found in the space. The combo of a solution that solves the financial (insurance) and non-financial (platform) issues linked to caregiving, together with a business model that splits the responsibility between employees and employers, makes this possible. António and the team he built around Yurtle couldn’t be a better fit to tackle this problem, with a combination of business, insurance, behavioural science and on-the ground experience working with caregivers”.
Yurtle has received support from the angel investment community since its formation in November 2020, with Fox Williams LLP also supporting this round.
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