Tendertree

TenderTree operated an online marketplace connecting families with in-home caregivers for elderly and disabled people. Families could browse caregiver profiles containing photographs, hobbies, work experience, background-check results, accreditations, references and reviews from other families, then interview and select a caregiver directly, in contrast to agency placements where the client had little say over who was assigned.

The platform handled the administrative layer of a care hire: payments, payroll and tax paperwork, insurance and bonding. Caregivers set their own hourly rates and logged their shift hours in a mobile application, which also let them communicate with families about what was done during each shift; customers approved logged hours and were charged via credit card at the end of each week. Every customer was covered by a $3 million insurance policy spanning general liability, professional liability, vehicle coverage and bonding, and the platform undertook to find a replacement caregiver immediately if one failed to show up. Caregiver types ranged from companions providing cooking, cleaning and conversation, to certified aides assisting with feeding and bathing, to licensed nurses delivering in-home medical care, plus speech and occupational therapists.

Founding story

Founder Andy Agrawal started the company in early 2012 after concluding that the senior care industry was structurally inefficient, with intermediaries charging large sums while assigning families caregivers they had not chosen. He began by interviewing caregivers and families to test demand, and cited as a catalyst a New York Times article by a blogger describing how caregiver information existed only in scattered databases and registries, leaving families to handle tax paperwork themselves and to take insurance and bonding on faith. The name combined "tender," for the gentle nature of the service, with "tree," signifying sturdiness and many branches.

Business model

Marketplace intermediation: TenderTree processed all payments from families to caregivers and retained a percentage of the amount processed, in exchange for handling tax paperwork, providing insurance and bonding, and maintaining a record of care on the platform.

A percentage cut of each transaction processed between family and caregiver. The company did not disclose the exact take rate, stating that much of it funded the $3 million insurance policy covering each caregiver, making the model volume-dependent.

Traction

By November 2012, roughly six months after launching a private beta, the company reported more than $100,000 in care booked through the platform and revenue growth of about 120 percent per quarter, with "thousands" of customers and caregivers signed up while still in private beta.

Latest developments

The tendertree.com domain is offered for sale through domain reseller HugeDomains at a listed price of $12,795, and no active company site is served there.