Senior Living Health Care Provider EmpowerMe Wellness Raises $100 Million

Senior living-focused integrated health care provider EmpowerMe Wellness raised more than $100 million in the last 12 months, including a “significant” commitment from a well-known Silicon Valley investor and entrepreneur.

This round of fundraising was for the development of the EmpowerMe delivery model, the addition of new services, and to support nationwide growth, according to a press release issued Wednesday.

Based in St. Louis, EmpowerMe is an integrated health care provider in the senior living space with a presence in 375 communities throughout 20 states. EmpowerMe provides therapy, diagnostic, pharmacy, and primary care. 

Jim McKelvey, a Silicon Valley billionaire known for co-founding the digital payments company Square Inc. (NYSE: SQ), is among the EmpowerMe investors.

“Having founded a technology company to serve the underserved (Square), EmpowerMe’s approach to senior living resonated [with me],” McKelvey said in a statement. He added that he is excited to contribute and ready to play a part in their technology-enabled strategy.

McKelvey also is not the only tech world luminary to set his sights on the senior housing and care market. Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian also sees elder tech as holding huge potential, and his investment firm Initialized Capital has backed several startups in the space.

“This is a massive market to be serving that’s quickly growing, and also now has a kind of tech fluency that we’ve never seen before,” Ohanian told SHN.

McKelvey joins Hermann Companies as investing partners in EmpowerMe. Hermann Companies, a St. Louis-based holding company, become EmpowerMe’s main investor in Nov. 2020.

The addition of health care services available in senior living communities is an industry trend of late.

Earlier this month, the founder and former CEO of Trilogy Health Randall Bufford took the helm of Synchrony Health Services, an ancillary subsidiary of Trilogy.

Synchrony Health now includes pharmacy, wellness pharmacy, rehabilitation, and lab services brands. Bufford, who stepped down from Trilogy in 2019, will now lead the effort to raise capital for Synchrony’s planned expansion.

And other senior living companies also are seeking to expand their provision of on-site care and wellness services, either by providing them or partnering with other organizations. Doing so is increasingly important, as payers recognize that senior living providers can play a key role in value-based care programs by keeping their resident populations thriving and out of costly settings such as hospitals.

“The future of health care, especially senior living, is value-based and outcome-driven,” said Founder and CEO Josh Stevens, “Our platform helps prepare senior living operators for that future.”