Ottawa-based Welbi is looking forward to rapid expansion after being acquired by fellow senior care software platform Further.
The news: US-based Further, an AI sales and marketing platform for senior care communities, announced on Wednesday that it acquired Welbi, a patient engagement software for those same communities. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Welbi founder and CEO Elizabeth Audette-Bourdeau told BetaKit over the phone that she will remain in charge of Welbi’s operations and that its team is remaining in place under Further. Welbi plans to double its headcount to roughly two dozen employees by the end of the year, with three hires already made. The two companies positioned the acquisition as a way to connect what a sales team learns about a potential senior resident’s interests through Further, with the team that plans the resident’s day-to-day life in the community using Welbi.
From the source: “We’ve been looking for the right partner to accelerate our growth, and that’s what we found [with] Further,” Audette-Bourdeau said. “Further has over 170 employees; they are international, they have team members all over the world, and they are a dominant player in the senior living space. For us to be able to partner with them and learn from them and grow along their side is something extremely exciting for me.”
The context: Audette-Bourdeau founded Welbi in 2016, after her grandfather suffered a stroke and his health declined after he moved to a retirement home. Welbi raised a $3 million CAD seed round in 2022, backed by Graphite Ventures, MaRS IAF, SoGal Ventures, and Roach Capital, to grow the platform and improve quality of life in senior homes.
Final thought: Audette-Bourdeau told BetaKit that Welbi had doubled its customer base in the past 12 months, serving approximately 1,000 senior care communities before the acquisition. Under Further, the two companies will have a combined reach of more than 8,000 senior communities, making Welbi’s platform directly available to thousands more potential customers.
Feature image courtesy Unsplash . Photo by Age Cymru.