2. Lottie

Exceptional Founder Award Winner

In recognition of the entrepreneurs who have turned their own personal struggles or challenges into a force-for-good, leading the way for industry change and innovation.

Startups 100: Exceptional Founder Award

Founders: Chris and Will Donnelly
Founded: 2021
Website: lottie.org

Choosing the best care home for yourself or a loved one is an important decision. However, the outdated process of finding one remains daunting and difficult. According to Age UK, 2.6 million people aged 50+ are unable to find suitable care in England today.

Our second-place startup, Lottie, is the UK’s first directory to showcase a vetted supply of care and nursing homes. The business is on a mission to uncomplicate the sector by making it easier for families to place their loved ones in a trusted home, for the fairest price.

Lottie’s sibling co-founders are perhaps the firm’s greatest strength: a combination of Chris’s background in digital agency and Will’s extensive experience advising the care sector. The human-led motivation behind Lottie is sound, but its tech-powered execution is revolutionary.

As well as an intelligent search engine where care seekers can find vetted care and retirement homes that match their needs, Lottie has made it compulsory for care providers to divulge all of their fees upfront. It claims to have saved its care seekers £5,000 off the listed price of a care home per year as a result.

Lottie claims to have saved its care seekers £5,000 off the listed price of a care home per year

Chris describes it as a ‘pinch me’ moment when Lottie’s first care seeker moved into their new home. “It felt as though all the challenges we faced along the way were no longer barriers, but drivers of success and change,” he enthuses.

“Every time we help a care seeker find the best care home or retirement property for them, it brings us joy and reminds us of why we set out on our business mission.”

Lottie has helped thousands of families across the UK find care for their loved ones – and it’s not stopping there. Appearing for the second time in our index (it came eighth in 2023), the brand has since made smart adaptations to its business model to scale its service alongside the increasing demand from care seekers.

Alongside the core, free platform, Lottie’s Marketplace, the brand now has two B2B solutions. First, it acquired Found by Lottie, a CRM software mapped to the care and retirement living industries. It also launched Seniorcare by Lottie, an employee benefits platform for corporates to deliver eldercare support to their employees.

Our goal for Lottie is to use our technology platform to help millions of older adults across the world live a happier, healthier, and more fulfilled later life.

With five-star reviews and a commitment to challenge the status quo of the care industry, Lottie has quickly risen in the ranks. It raised a further £17m in Series A funding earlier this year, bringing the total amount raised by the company to £25m.

“Our goal for Lottie is to use our technology platform to help millions of older adults across the world live a happier, healthier, and more fulfilled later life, whilst driving positive change in the eldercare sector,” says Chris.

For the second year in a row, Lottie has found its home in the Startups 100 Index. Returning with a diversified portfolio, and strengthened product offerings, this startup has proved it’s not just here to disrupt, but to ultimately transform the social care sector for the better.