A 鈥榝eel-good tech company鈥� promising to disrupt the elderly care industry has launched in London.聽
Originally founded in Finland, Gubbe 鈥� meaning 鈥榖uddy鈥� or 鈥榝riend鈥� 鈥� wants to bring a revolutionary solution to the public healthcare crisis by pairing the elderly with suitable local young people on a subscription basis.聽
The subscribers are often relatives of the elderly 鈥� children or grandchildren 鈥� who buy the home visit service as a gift.聽
The idea came about when co-founder Sandra Lounamaa began looking for a cure to her grandmother鈥檚 loneliness.聽
鈥淚 am incredibly close with my grandmother yet I didn鈥檛 have enough time to commit to visiting and helping her around the home. I was in a position where I wanted to do more but I simply couldn鈥檛,鈥� said Lounamaa.
鈥淕ubbe offers a new kind of elderly care service that can keep seniors active, give them help with everyday tasks and teach technology skills.
鈥淢any of the elderly people we serve have conditions such as dementia or struggle to move independently. Gubbe helpers can take them to the toilet, cook and feed them, change their bed sheets, and do other house chores.聽
鈥淲e create meaningful jobs for young people and bring a sense of security to the whole family.鈥�
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In Finland there are thousands of service users and the same can be said for Sweden, where the company launched last year.聽
The launch comes as the UK lurches into a winter characterised by rising energy bills and a cost of living crisis.聽
Lounamaa says software built by the firm which gives relatives real-time updates has the ability to 鈥榬evolutionise鈥� elderly care and bring added reassurance for families.聽
She said: 鈥淏ringing in new technology and changing the way users interact with the service is a game-changer.聽
鈥淲e are doing the same thing that Deliveroo did to the food industry: Revolutionising how the care is delivered, what the care looks like and responding to diverse customer needs that no one is currently addressing.聽
鈥淭he UK elderly care market is ripe for disruption. There simply isn鈥檛 anyone in the market who offers reliable and customised homecare like this.鈥�
Gubbe has previously been named in Wired鈥檚 鈥楾he Hottest Startups in Europe鈥�. Backed by numerous VC investors, it has collected more than 拢5 million in funding.聽
As well as operating in the consumer market it also offers the service as a company benefit plan or a corporate responsibility project.聽
Lounamaa added: 鈥淭o understand the size of these markets, global firms spend roughly 拢20 billion on corporate social responsibility per year and roughly the same amount goes to employee benefits. Our goal as a company is to generate 拢50million by 2024.鈥�
Gubbe is currently operating in the Greater London area. Within a few months it plans to open up in all major UK cities.