"Caregiving is the single largest driver of underrepresentation of women in senior leadership and lower participation of women in paid work."
- Richard Chattock, CEO of Insurtech Gateway
Coinciding with the upcoming Carers Leave Act, which will introduce a statutory entitlement of up to one week of unpaid carers leave annually, Yurtle has secured £1.37mn to grow its workplace offering – this includes Yurty, the UK’s first digital care ally.
Yurtle believes there’s an “urgent need” for this support, with the population of adults aged 65+ growing at twice the rate of younger age groups. This has left social care services facing unprecedented levels of pressure and 12k people each day taking on caregiving responsibilities for their loved ones.
Yurtle’s employer-sponsored care management platform (co-led by Insurtech Gateway & Mustard Seed Maze) will support caregivers’ health & wellbeing which cost employers up to £4.8bn each year through lost productivity, absence, and turnover. Through this platform, employees will be provided with caregiver insurance, back-up care, access to its support team, educational resources, and corporate discounts.
It will also enable the creation of Yurty, the UK’s first digital care ally. This app will help employees reflect on the care-load they carry and mobilise their existing network to share caring responsibilities.
Antonio Ribeiro, Founder of Yurtle, said there’s “no single systemic challenge more pressing or fascinating to solve than our ageing population […] securing this funding allows us to continue building the tools families need to meet their obligations of care without sacrificing their health.”
“Caregiving is the single largest driver of underrepresentation of women in senior leadership and lower participation of women in paid work,” agreed Richard Chattock, CEO of Insurtech Gateway. He believes Yurtle’s proposition 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 for loved ones.”
Sofia Queiroz, Investment Principal at Mustard Seed Maze, said “tackling the challenge of a growing elderly population has always been an area of interest, considering the size of the problem and the potential impact.” She believes Yurtle proves that a scalable business model can be established in the caregiver space. “Yurtle is the best fit to tackle this problem, with a combination of business, insurance, behavioural science and on-the ground experience working with caregivers,” she concluded.
