Caring.com announced today it has acquired Gilbert Guide, an online senior housing directory where caregivers can search for local providers. According to Venture beat, Caring.com currently has 700,000 monthly unique visitors. Now Caring.com will give its members access to Gilbert Guide’s housing guide.
Read the details here.
According to the news story, "
the consolidation helps Caring.com compete against other elder care sites and companies such as A Place for Mom… and other ['searchable' senior care directories]….."
The deal value wasn’t disclosed, but Caring.com exchanged equity to acquire Gilbert Guide - an unbelievably fabulous deal for Caring.com which has raised $6 million of VC money the last few years from DCM and Split Rock Partners. And the fact that the Gilbert Guide founders took equity for the sale of their business (if true) would indicate the desire for a liquidity event by Caring.com within the next 3-5 years (assuming this economy improves).
Andy Cohen, CEO of Caring.com is a very likable individual who seems to be in this business for all the right reasons. And based on my several meetings with him, I find Andy to be a very capable CEO. Reading about this acquisition reaffirms this belief.
This was a very, very good acquisition. Really.
In June I wrote a blog titled "
Searchable" Senior Care Directories. A Rapidly Growing Product Category that discussed this growing space of Internet sites that allow caregivers to search for senior care services - from in-home care to assisted living/nursing homes to handyman services.
Quite a few of these companies have recently signed up for our
SeniorCareMarketer.com service so we're getting to know the space quite well. And each week I think I'm introduced to a new one. Many of them are listed in the
SeniorCare Directory.
This space is HOT at the moment although
many will not be around in a few years unless they can figure out how to make money with something other than "paid listings". And this is why I believe Caring.com's acquisition of Gilbert Guide is so strategic.
Aside from (gosh I hate to use this phrase) the obvious synergies, this deal gives Caring.com a new revenue source (Gilbert Guide made money from paid listings, advertising, and licensing their database to a number of other directory sites - although a few deals could possibly be in jeopardy now that Caring.com is involved), additional advertising opportunities, greater access to the caregiving community (consumers and providers/vendors), the ability to better target ads (which command higher premiums), and the ability to deliver an overall better user experience. This deal also brings a whole host of growth and new product opportunities to Caring.com that they would otherwise not have had.
Kudos to Andy Cohen and Caring.com for a super buy. I wish them success.
