Pomegra
London healthtech Lottie has acquired CareMaster, a 25-year-old billing software provider serving 750+ care home sites, to bring AI into credit control.
Key Takeaways
- Lottie bought CareMaster on 2 October 2026 for an undisclosed price; it is the company's second care software acquisition.
- CareMaster serves nearly 75 providers across 750+ UK care home locations.
- Lottie expects the combined platform to handle £3bn in annual invoicing by H1 2027, up from £1bn.
Lead
Lottie, the London startup that began as a marketplace for care home searches, has acquired CareMaster, a UK provider of billing, payments and credit control software for care businesses. The deal was announced on 2 October 2026, and Lottie has not disclosed the price or structure. CareMaster, founded by Bob Grimshaw and Colin Rooke, works with nearly 75 care providers covering more than 750 care home locations.
This is a strategic purchase of a customer base and a workflow, not an acquihire. Lottie is buying 25 years of accumulated billing logic and the providers that already depend on it.
What Did Lottie Actually Buy?
Lottie bought a billing, payments and credit control product embedded in the finance operations of nearly 75 care providers. Billing in social care is complicated by a mix of private payers, local authority funding and NHS contributions, and CareMaster has spent a quarter of a century handling that. Lottie says the combined platform will process £3bn in annual invoicing by the first half of 2027, against roughly £1bn today.
That tripling is almost entirely a function of the acquisition. It tells the story: the purchase adds money flowing through the platform, which a search marketplace or CRM alone could not.
Is This Really a Second Acquisition in 12 Months?
No: it is Lottie's second acquisition overall, and the first came in 2022. That earlier deal was Found, a care home CRM and occupancy tool used by fewer than 100 locations at the time, reported at £1.5m. Lottie has since rebuilt Found as an AI-native product and expects it to support nearly 2,500 UK care services by the end of 2026.
The Found precedent is the more useful data point. A small acquired product grew roughly twenty-fold in customer reach under Lottie's ownership, and the company is plainly hoping to repeat that arc with a billing product that starts from a much larger base.
Why Does Billing Matter to a Care Marketplace?
Billing sits at the end of the customer journey Lottie already covers at the beginning. The company started by connecting families with care homes, then added the CRM that providers use to manage enquiries and occupancy. Invoicing and collections are the next step, and CEO Will Donnelly has said the goal is to extend the platform across the whole journey, from first enquiry to payment.
Donnelly framed the sector as one where AI can reduce administrative burden and free staff for care work. The first target is credit control, a repetitive and time-consuming task with measurable outcomes: invoices chased, days to payment, and write-offs. Those metrics are easier to prove to a care operator than a marketing funnel.
Funding Context
Lottie's last disclosed round was a $21m (£16.35m) Series A in October 2023, led by Accel with General Catalyst and Kindred Ventures participating. The company has not disclosed a valuation, and the CareMaster announcement does not say whether the deal was paid in cash, equity or a mix. A funded startup buying a profitable, long-established software business is a common route to revenue that venture-backed growth alone is slow to produce. Whether Lottie raised new capital for this deal remains unstated.
What Comes Next for Lottie?
Lottie's stated plan is to apply AI to credit control first, then work outward through the rest of the billing workflow. It has also said it intends to expand beyond the UK and is targeting record commercial growth in 2027.
The main risks are practical. Integrating a 25-year-old product without disrupting provider cash flow is harder than rebuilding a sub-100-location CRM, and care operators are cautious about changing billing systems. Customer retention through the migration will be the clearest early test, though Lottie has published no churn or retention figures.
Outlook
Lottie has moved from a care search marketplace to a software vendor holding operational and financial workflows for care providers, with CareMaster adding 750+ locations and a claimed £2bn in extra annual invoicing. The price, valuation and funding behind the deal remain undisclosed. The next milestones are the H1 2027 invoicing target, the first AI credit control features, and any move into markets outside the UK.
