Finnish startup Gubbe raises a 4 MEUR round to speed up Finnish expansion and international roll-out of their business supporting elderly combat loneliness through access to Gubbe helpers. The round was led by Spintop Ventures , in syndication with Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd), a large and recognized family office and high-profile angel investors.
The feel-good tech company Gubbe aims to be a complement to traditional elderly home care by connecting young people and students with elderly people needing help with chores or just someone to talk to.
“Supporting Gubbe in their fantastic feel-good adventure will be an amazing journey and we see substantial international potential, especially with the next target market, the UK, , open for these kinds of services” says Erik Wenngren, co-founder and partner at Spintop Ventures.
Through the Gubbe subscription the elderly is matched with a young person, preferably someone they have something in common with, and gets a Gubbe-visit from a couple of times a month to several times a week.
“There is a worldwide lack of good elderly care providers. We also suffer from a nursing shortage that will only get worse as the population ages at a more rapid pace. We exist to solve these problems; to enable an active and happy life for all elderly people and to inspire young adults to work in elderly care. We are so proud to have this talented group of investors backing our vision” says Gubbe’s Co-founder and CEO Sandra Lounamaa and Co-founder Meri-Tuuli Laaksonen.
The typical Gubbe visit takes place in the elderly’s home, but there are no limits to taking a walk together, going grocery shopping or watching that latest Bond movie at a cinema together. This has proven to improve the life quality of the elderly significantly, while giving their relatives peace of mind and a meaningful side job for young people. With the 4 MEUR in fresh funding, Gubbe is ready to use the learnings from their Swedish market launch in larger European markets.
”Gubbe’s mission resonated strongly with us. The increasing elderly loneliness is an universal problem, and this team is driven to make a change” says Tesi’s investment director Joni Karsikas.
About Gubbe
The idea behind Gubbe was born when Sandra Lounamaa, co-founder and CEO of Gubbe, could not find a suitable service for her elderly grandmother. The grandmother, much like other elderlies, was spending too much time on her own as her family lived elsewhere. Soon thereafter she got to know her co-founder Meri-Tuuli Laaksonen, a teacher and expert in elderly health and wellbeing, and together they founded Gubbe. As the world’s population is aging, especially in the Western world, there is an increasing need for services for the older generations. Traditional elderly care is focusing on basic physical needs such as medication, food and hygiene but as resources and time is scarce, there is seldom an opportunity for sufficient social interaction. This is where Gubbe enters the picture by combating loneliness with their “family on demand”-service.
Further information at https://fi.gubbe.com/english
About Spintop Ventures
Spintop Ventures is a Swedish early-stage Venture Capital company investing in Nordic software enabled technology companies. Spintop, started in 2009, is backed by the European Investment Fund, Saminvest, Sitra and many high-profile tech entrepreneurs and is currently investing from Spintop’s fourth fund. Spintop has a sustainable ESG investment agenda for its funds and portfolio companies.
Further information at https://spintopventures.com/
About Tesi
Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd) is a state-owned investment company investing in venture capital and private equity funds and directly in growth companies. They want to raise Finland to the forefront of renewed economic growth. They invest profitably and responsibly to create the world’s next success stories. The investment in Gubbe is a part of Tesi’s Venture Bridge special investment program.
Further information at https://www.tesi.fi/en/