Papa, the first and only curated platform of companionship and clinical care to older adults and families, announced today a $60 million Series C funding round led by Tiger Global Management. The company’s total funding now totals $91 million.
Papa experienced significant growth in 2021, growing 600% year-over-year, and will use the financing to accelerate further expansion. Papa will continue to scale its platform and enhance its suite of services to improve the health and lives of older adults and families through health plans and employers.
“We have proven that pairing those in need with energetic, caring and geographically-local Papa Pals while leveraging data and technology to ensure an amazing experience improves the lives and health of our members,” said Andrew Parker, Founder and CEO of Papa. “This funding will allow us to continue to enhance our platform and suite of services to empower a completely new type of care to support members’ full spectrum of unmet needs—both social and clinical.”
Papa is on a mission to combat loneliness and isolation, and to optimize other social determinants of health. Leveraging the Papa Platform, the company has developed a curated network of Papa Pals who provide companionship and assistance to their members. Papa Pals do many things to help their members, including taking them to doctor appointments, helping around the house, providing tech support, and most importantly, companionship. By providing members with true independence and a trusted, friendly Papa Pal, Papa can reduce loneliness and the effects of isolation.
“We’ve become our Members’ extended families, they know we’re available when they feel like talking to someone or when they need to run to the grocery store to get healthy food or new reading glasses,” said Alfredo Vaamonde, Co-founder and COO of Papa. “Our Papa Pals also know the impact they have on our member’s lives, which continues to be the prevailing reason that new Pals enroll in the program to service members. They know they are gaining exposure to an important generation with incredible experiences and perspectives.”
Since its launch in 2017, the company has seen dramatic growth. Papa recently expanded services to all 50 U.S. states and launched Papa Health, a suite of additional benefits including care navigation, virtual primary care, and chronic care management. Papa’s network of Papa Pals, Care Navigators, and board certified physicians (referred to as Papa Docs) can support members in a proactive manner while providing an ROI to health plans and employers.
Papa Pals assist members as needed, including helping them navigate their virtual visits and encouraging them to follow their care plan provided by their Papa Doc. Papa partners with Medicare Advantage, Managed Medicaid, and employers as a benefit to their members. Papa has partnered with more than 40 large health plans across the United States.
“Addressing loneliness and social isolation is a critical issue for older adults and their families, especially as more seniors choose to age at-home,” said Scott Shleifer, Partner, Tiger Global. “Papa has developed a highly personal companionship model to solve this unmet need, delivering exceptional satisfaction ratings and healthcare outcomes. We are excited to back the clear category leader and believe they’re just scratching the surface of the opportunity that lies ahead.”
Papa is available through many health plans and employers throughout the United States.
About Papa
Papa is a family on-demand service providing companionship and clinical care to older adults and families through an expansive client base of Medicare Advantage, state managed Medicaid health plans, and employers. Papa was founded in 2017 in Miami, FL. Papa is now available in all 50 states. Investors include Tiger Global, Comcast Ventures, Canaan, Initialized Capital, Sound Ventures, Pivotal Ventures with Magnify Ventures, Behance Founder, CPO of Adobe; Scott Belsky, the founders of Flatiron Health and their group Operator Partners, among other high-profile investors. For more information, visit joinpapa.com.
About Tiger Global
Tiger Global Management, LLC is an investment firm that focuses on private and public companies in the global Internet, software, consumer, and payments industries. The Firm’s private equity strategy was launched in 2003 and has invested in hundreds of companies across more than 30 countries, in all stages of funding – from Series A to pre-IPO. The venture business aims to partner with dynamic entrepreneurs operating market-leading growth companies; examples include JD.com, Meituan, Facebook, LinkedIn, Spotify, Peloton, Credit Karma, Toast, Stripe, ByteDance, Stone, Warby Parker, Flipkart, Despegar, Ola and DiDi. Tiger Global was founded in 2001 and is based in New York with affiliate offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore and Bangalore.