Financial technology startup Carefull announced it raised $16.5 million in a Series A round of funding.
The Carefull application helps family members, caregivers and trusted advisors monitor, organize and protect the financial lives of aging loved ones.
Fin Capital led the funding round and was joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, TTV Capital, Commerce Ventures, Montage Ventures, and Alloy Labs, bringing the company's total funding to $19.7 million (Carefull raised an initial seed funding round of $3.2 million in February 2021).
“I’ve said it before, but advisors are uniquely positioned, they’re helping older clients—and their families—navigate the transition, going from financial independence to needing assistance with their money,” said Todd Rovak, co-founder and co-CEO of Carefull.
“Advisors have spent years earning their clients' trust, and now they have an opportunity to build a relationship with the adult children supporting them, who have the potential to become their next generation of clients,” he said, noting that advisors, their firms and legacy institutional providers often find the latter a real challenge.
Rovak said the new capital will be used to scale onboarding and support for new partners and for research and the development of new features on Carefull’s roadmap. He said the firm also plans to grow headcount from its current 25 employees.
Carefull monitors the checking, savings and credit card accounts of seniors for more than 50 data points and types of behavioral issues that may be "red flags” suggesting older adults have fallen victim to elder financial abuse.
These include late or missed payments, changes in spending behavior or other unusual banking activity, like recurring cash transfers or charitable contributions that have not been properly vetted.
During setup, the seniors involved select family members and caregivers to be in their “circle of care” to receive notifications if any suspected issues are detected by the application. And there is also a Trusted Contacts system for helping caregivers stay connected and collaborate as well as a password and document vault.
The platform has also expanded the offering to integrate identity, credit and home title monitoring, along with $1 million in identity theft insurance.
Rovak said that over the past year, Carefull has grown its customer and partner base to include more than 35 financial institutions and advisor groups, among them Cetera FinancialGroup, MassMutual, and Nationwide.