AlayaCare – bring home care to the next level thanks to the cloud

Founded in 2014, AlayaCare is the provider of a cloud-based home healthcare software, making it its mission to bring home care to the next level. They offer a platform for agencies to propel towards the future of innovation and home care, setting up the technology they need to get better results in the constantly changing healthcare scene.

They have partnerships with several organizations in the health sector.

By including client and family portals, remote patient monitoring, and mobile care worker functionality, the platform allows members of the industry to respond to the needs of an aging population, in an innovative way.

The company now has offices in Montreal, Toronto, and Sydney, where the management, engineering and production teams are established.

At the beginning of the month of July, it was announced that iNovia, Investissement Québec and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, offered them an investment of $33 million in new capital.

Following this news, we interviewed Olivier Thibault, Human Resources Director, at AlayaCare, in order to learn more about the path they took, their challenges and what they have in mind for the future.

– How do you find Montreal’s ecosystem, and how do you see its growth?   

We see it as particularly explosive – there are more and more companies, like Lightspeed, that become “unicorns”, and contribute to making Montreal shine on the international map. Our goal is to become one of those companies.

– How did Montreal’s startup ecosystem help you so far? 

Montreal is a very strategic city to start a tech company. There are good universities, and it’s a welcoming city for foreigners. Having offices here was a strategic move for us. We were able to hire engineers and have talks with the industry, allowing us to start and grow our company. We also got some help from research and development appropriations, and help from CanExport.

– Is there something missing in the ecosystem, something that could help meet the needs of startups like yours?

We recently came across some issues regarding some of our colleagues’ work permits. There were complications about their arrival in Canada, with their applications. This situation affected not only our coworkers but also the entire company. We would like to see some kind of continuity in the government’s actions to facilitate the arrival of foreign qualified workers. But 2 years ago, they launched the Global Talent Stream, which allowed us to get the workforce from abroad quicker, like computer engineers and such. With this 4 week process, instead of the usual 4 to 6 months, we were able to accelerate our own procedures. We would like this program to be renewed in the future.

Our goal is to continue being a part of Montreal’s economic growth. We generate many jobs and are a part of Montreal’s ecosystem while paying local taxes.

– Do you give back to the startup ecosystem, and if so, how? 

Absolutely. We also consider it is a part of our role, to give to the community. This is why we give meetups at our office; to share our space, give advice to young entrepreneurs that are just starting their companies, meeting them at events. We also hold a monthly meetup, about quality assurance, at our office. We would like to organize more meetups with members of the community in the future – if anybody is interested!

– What’s the next step?

We just announced a round of funding, of 33 million dollars in new capital less than a month ago, as we’re getting close to our 5 year anniversary. We would like to keep hiring people, and since our clientele base is already quite established in Canada, we’d like to accelerate our international sales.