Purpose Ventures — one of WA’s largest early-stage VC funds — has announced its first follow-on investment in Plancare, increasing its overall investment to $2.5 million.
PlanCare — led by founder and CEO, Dave Newman — is a technology platform that provides a comprehensive solution for self-managed healthcare, offering clients a seamless way to access and manage their home care packages. The company has demonstrated remarkable growth since Purpose Ventures first invested in it in July 2023.
Dave Newman says, “Partnering with Purpose Ventures for our seed round allows PlanCare to scale further in tackling the global problem of healthcare-at-home for an ageing population. With more consumers wanting more choice and control and the ability to self-manage their own supports, this investment will enable us to further build out our healthcare-at-home platform and service to ensure more people can live longer in the place they want to — their homes.”
Purpose Ventures founders, Derek and Kylie Gerrard are well known in the WA startup community having been major contributors over the last decade. Kylie had run the Perth chapter of the angel investor network, Innovation Bay, prior to leading Spacecubed’s Plus Eight Accelerator.
Derek is well known for establishing WA’s only other structured venture fund, the RAC-backed BetterLabs Corporate Venture $23 million fund, which he left to start the Purpose Ventures Fund. Before this, he had exited his own startup company Greensense.
Purpose Ventures has now been operating for a little more than one year and has invested over $4.5 million of its $46 million fund in local startups including Paperly, IDEAcademy, Plancare, and Gene-S.
Derek Gerard commented, “Raising Purpose Ventures’ first fund was a culmination of what Kylie and I have been doing over the last ten years. Having been founders ourselves we bring a unique perspective to early-stage investing. We want to primarily support founders who are chasing their purpose or “life cause” and are using innovative technology and approaches to tackle large markets locally and overseas.”
Featured image: supplied. From left to right: Derek Gerrard (Purpose Ventures Co-Founder), Dave Newman (Plancare Founder and CEO), Kylie Gerrard (Purpose Ventures Co-Founder), Tilly Snaauw (Plancare COO), Kirsty Packer (Purpose Ventures Investment Manager), Sunita Lamichhane (Plancare Group Accountant).
