Privately-owned Better Caring, which describes itself as a marketplace for aged care and disability support services, has raised $3 million from investors, including Ellerston Capital, to fund its expansion.
Better Caring operates a website directly linking people seeking aged care and disability support services with individual carers, thereby allowing the client to match the carer more closely to their needs.
Co-founder and chief executive Peter Scutt says Better Caring aims to restore some of the control that people needing support services lose when the care provider is an organisation and the carer allocated to help them constantly changes.
Mr Scutt said elderly or disabled people needing help mostly want to stay in their own home so they retain some control over their lives.
They also want to choose who comes into their home to care for them - something they cannot do when provider companies continually roster different carers.
Mr Scutt said that in the case of his mother, who had dementia, the carers who came into his parents' house to dress her were always changing.
He said his frail father got to the point of saying that he would rather not have anyone coming in to help.
"Also, because the carers coming through were rostered on to perform tasks, the rich history of my parents was completely lost," Mr Scutt said.
"They (the carers) had no idea who they were or what was of interest to them - there was just a job to be done."
Mr Scutt said Better Caring connected people requiring care directly with individual care providers all over Australia.
"We question whether having big organisations sitting in between is adding any value," he said.
Mr Scutt said that a direct relationship between the client and the carer meant that many of the overheard costs incurred by a company providing care could be reduced.
This meant a client could pay less and afford more hours of care, while the carer could earn more and feel more valued.
Ellerston Capital counts billionaire James Packer among its major stakeholders.
Ellerston Ventures investment director David Leslie said community aged care and disability support was a high-growth opportunity, especially given the rollout of National Disability Insurance Scheme.
