Carewell bags a $24.7M SeriesB

Carewell is on a mission to provide family caregivers with tools and resources to care for their loved ones. The online retailer also just announced a Series B fund raise,  recently relocated its headquarters from Charlotte  to Miami and hired a handful of executives hailing from South Florida’s most well-known online retailer, Chewy.

“Family caregiving is becoming an increasingly more common experience in the U.S. with spouses, children, parents, and even grandchildren having to take on a caregiving role overnight without warning,” said Carewell founder and CEO Bianca Padilla [pictured above]. “Understandably, these individuals can experience significant mental, physical, and emotional stress as they balance their role as caregivers with other responsibilities to work and family, and our mission at Carewell is to help educate, support and advocate for these selfless heroes.”

Padilla knows the caregiver challenge firsthand. “When I was the first time caregiver, we brought my grandmother home from an unexpected surgery and she lost 90% of her mobility. There weren’t any resources for us to understand how to care for her,” Padilla told Axios, which first reported the news.

Founded in 2017, Carewell supports independent caregivers seeking helpful and knowledgeable customer service, educational resources, and affordable, trusted products, including incontinence supplies and nutritional supplements. Padilla said most of the products they sell are repeat purchases through its autoship program.

Carewell  today announced a $24.7 million Series B capital raise to further accelerate its mission of streamlining access to home health products. This latest round of funding was led by the principals of Miami-based MBF Healthcare, with participation from existing investors Sageview Capital and Headline among others. In addition, the company has made several senior level hires amidst plans to relocate their headquarters to Miami.

“As healthcare investors for over 40 years, we have strived to create greater value for our investors when focusing on companies that provide a point of difference to their customers and patients,” said Mike B. Fernandez, Chairman of MBF Healthcare Plans and a Miami healthcare entrepreneur, in a statement.

 “Carewell’s commitment to providing an exceptional 24/7 customer experience and tailored high-end products at competitive prices sets them apart from competitors and we are proud to support a family-run company dedicated to shaping the future of healthcare and caregiving,” he added.

Participating in the round were Florida Opportunity Fund, Primetime Partners, Nextview and Anchor. To date, Carewell has raised $54.7 million, according to Crunchbase.

The Series B funds will bolster Carewell’s growth strategy, e-commerce technology, and the overall customer experience, focusing on improved service and an expanded suite of products, Padilla said.

Alongside the capital raise, Carewell has also announced the hiring of senior executives from Chewy.com as part of relocating its headquarters to the Miami area. Mike Pacifico joins as Chief Financial Officer from Chewy, and he was also CFO at Arteza, a DTC arts and crafts brand. Jason Klinghoffer will be Chief Marketing Officer from Chewy, where he led the company’s growth marketing strategy and co-led three capital raises. Sam Rassner joins as Chief Technology Officer from BEX Realty and previously led software development at Chewy.com, where she was responsible for expanding the brand’s e-commerce technology and pool of tech talent. Kelli Durkin joins as Vice President of Customer Service, bringing a wealth of expertise in customer experience from previous roles at The Farmer’s Dog and Chewy.