One of the greatest national challenges in the UK is finding an additional 900,000 workers by 2030 while the average care worker churn is at a staggering 50% year-over-year. UK-based startup Borderless aims to improve and consolidate this historically fragmented and expensive workforce management process.
Now, the startup has snapped £2.5 million in seed funding in a round led by Backed VC with participation from Tiny VC (known for investments in finres and Outverse) and prominent angel investors, including Charlie Songhurst and Chris Mairs.
Currently focused on delivering their product to care providers with up to 500 employees, Borderless is eyeing a future where it is working with the majority of the UK healthcare sector, and also helping alleviate staff shortages within the NHS itself.
“We’re extremely pleased to be partnering with the Borderless team as they grow. The solution they have created is one the entire country will benefit from as they expand on their early market dominance. We immediately saw the benefit their technology brings to both candidates looking for better pathways, and care homes searching for the best talent capable of looking after the nation’s elderly,” commented Alex Brunicki, General Partner at BACKED VC.
End-to-end platform for care providers
Borderless was founded in 2022 by Matthew Bond and Jonathan Raphael, former founders with a history of building businesses that solve important problems. The platform allows care providers to automate hiring and the onboarding of international workers, removing the need for intermediary organisations that contribute to the industry’s human trafficking and modern slavery issues.
Borderless gives care workers clear oversight over the recruitment process and it provides employers with an end-to-end software platform that streamlines all aspects of international hiring and sponsorship to make workforce management low-cost and low-risk.
Candidates aren’t charged by Borderless, with the lower cost covered by the care homes that most need workers.
The number of care professionals must grow from the current 1.7 million to 2.6 million by 2030, to satisfy demand and ensure a good level of care for the elderly. Despite a huge pool of talented workers, both overseas and in the UK, complex processes for employers have become major barriers to finding talent. The terrible experience for candidates who can end up resorting to shady third parties that charge them up to £20,000 to find a job, adds to this. Borderless wants to permanently solve this.
“We met at Entrepreneur First, where we spent hundreds of hours with care providers who were turning down hundreds of thousands of pounds every year in contracts because they couldn’t find the staff they needed to service them. We realised this was partly because of the time and money they had to spend learning how to stay compliant, often working with expensive third party lawyers and recruiters. We saw how solving those high costs could positively impact the care industry – and that’s why we started Borderless.” said Matthew Bond, Co-Founder at Borderless.
Borderless’ software allows care providers to automate the hiring and onboarding of international workers, including recruitment, immigration, relocation, and compliance, in one platform, removing the need for intermediary organisations that have long contributed to the industry’s human trafficking and modern slavery issues.
