Exclusive: Blooming Health snags $4.2M for social needs of older adults

Blooming Health, a tech platform connecting community-based aging care providers with older patients and their caregivers, raised $4.2 million in seed funding, CEO Nima Roohi tells Axios exclusively.

Why it matters: The New York-based company is focused on improving older adults' social determinants of health, an increasingly important metric in health care.

Details: The round was led by Afore Capital and Crossbeam Venture Partners.

• Additional investment came from Chelsea Clinton's investment firm, Metrodora, and angel investor and DoorDash co-founder Evan Moore.
• Currently running at a monthly $20,000 to $30,000 net burn, Blooming Health foresees the funding lasting at least two years, Roohi tells Axios.
• "We plan to be at breakeven when we want to raise our next round," he adds.

How it works: With operations across Arizona, California, New York and Texas, Blooming Health helps community-based aging care providers engage with older adults and caregiver clients remotely.

• The platform facilitates wellness check-ins and helps patients with nutrition access, transportation and mobility, and emergency preparedness.
• Users communicate over text, voice calls or email and the platform is available in 30 languages.
• Partners include Catholic Charities, tens of Area Agencies for Aging, NY State Office for Aging, CVS-owned Oak Street Health, and the AARP Foundation.

What's next: Blooming Health is expanding operations to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan and hopes to reach 1 million older adults by the end of 2024.

State of play: Other companies in the caregiving space include Family First and Helpful, though Roohi says "there is limited direct competition."

• "While the aging space has businesses with respectable adoption, there are key unmet ecosystem needs that we are fulfilling," he says.

• Blooming Health aims to accommodate users at varying levels of technology access and literacy, as well as users who don't speak English.
• Its integration within aging care organizations' workflows also sets the company apart, according to Roohi.

What they're saying: "The white space is social care, not medical care," Roohi says. "More than 80% of outcomes are driven by social care."

• "We were impressed to see how much impact the company had achieved with very little resources — even at the seed stage, Blooming's clients were seeing increases in engagement KPIs across the board," says Sakib Jamal, vice president at Crossbeam Venture Partners.
• "Forward-thinking aging agencies and states are already looking to incorporate vendors like Blooming Health with a prevention-led strategy," Jamal says.

💗 One fun thing: All three co-founders are immigrants and have been, or are currently, caregivers for a family member.