Cera

Cera is Europe’s largest digital-first home healthcare company. It aims to help people live longer and better lives in their own homes through technology. Cera delivers around 2.5 million home healthcare visits every month through a workforce of more than 10,000 carers and nurses. Its scale is greater than all NHS A&E visits combined, averaging one visit every second.

Cera uses technology and AI to shift care from hospital to home. Its mission is to empower people to stay well at home, while its vision focuses on building a global, preventative model of home healthcare. The company replaces paper-based systems with digital tools, using the Cera App to record symptoms, observations, and daily health information in real time. These inputs feed into predictive AI systems that identify health risks such as falls or infections, enabling early intervention by care teams. This prevents avoidable hospital admissions and supports safer care at home.

Cera has built one of the world’s largest home healthcare datasets, with over 230 billion data points. This dataset supports risk scoring, early warning systems and decision-support tools that help staff prioritise care needs. Independent analyses show that Cera’s model has reduced hospitalisations by up to 70%, saving the UK Government and NHS over £1 billion to date and contributing around £1.5 million in daily savings.

Cera also helps address workforce shortages in health and social care. Its AI-enabled recruitment, training and support tools have attracted over one million applicants in two years. It provides training pathways, 24/7 AI support chatbots, and digital learning tools to help staff work more efficiently.

The organisation supports governments, insurers and the NHS, working with over 100 Local Governments and most NHS regions. Its services include elderly care, nursing and complex care, live-in care, extra care, supported living and learning disability support. Cera also partners with researchers to expand healthcare insights for older people through its large dataset.

Cera was founded in 2016 by Dr Ben Maruthappu MBE, a physician and policy specialist who recognised the need to move more healthcare services from hospitals into people’s homes. The organisation began as a digital-first home care provider focused on using technology to support carers, improve health outcomes, and create a more efficient model of community care. From the start, Cera aimed to bring together healthcare delivery and technology by building tools that could record information digitally and support better decisions during home visits.

In its early years, Cera secured partnerships with UK Local Governments, the NHS, and insurers to deliver home care services. It quickly expanded its operations, hiring carers and nurses to meet rising demand for at-home support. As the organisation grew, Cera invested in developing its own technology rather than relying on existing systems. This led to the creation of the Cera App, which enabled carers and nurses to record symptoms, observations and daily updates digitally during each visit. These digital records replaced paper notes and created consistent data across regions.

As more data was collected, Cera developed preventive AI tools that could analyse patterns in service users’ health information. These tools began flagging risks such as falls, infections or changes in behaviour, allowing teams to intervene earlier. The organisation built what would become one of the largest home healthcare datasets in Europe, containing more than 230 billion data points. This dataset supported new predictive models, early warning systems, and decision-support tools that helped reduce emergency hospital admissions.

By working closely with governments and health systems, Cera expanded to cover over a hundred UK Local Governments and most NHS regions. Its home healthcare model began contributing significant savings to public services by preventing avoidable hospitalisations and reducing pressure on hospitals. Cera also focused on workforce development, using AI tools to support recruitment, training and staff retention. It attracted more than one million applicants in two years and introduced digital learning pathways, 24/7 support chatbots, and AI training avatars to help carers and nurses deliver accurate and timely care.

Alongside operational growth, Cera strengthened its role in healthcare research. Its dataset of older adults’ health information supported studies in areas such as dementia, cardiovascular disease, COPD, diabetes, osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. By sharing insights with researchers, Cera aimed to improve early intervention and treatment options for conditions affecting older people.

The organisation continued expanding its services across elderly care, nursing and complex care, live-in care, extra care, supported living and learning disabilities support. Cera reached more than 2.5 million home visits per month, making it the largest digital-first home healthcare provider in Europe. Its model became more carbon-efficient than hospital-based care, supporting national sustainability goals through fewer hospital admissions and optimised care routes.

Cera operates with annualised revenues of around $500 million and maintains one of the fastest growth trajectories in the sector, scaling 100 times in five years. It continues to develop new AI tools, including AI care robots and advanced predictive systems, while expanding its partnerships with governments, insurers and the NHS.

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Cera has received significant recognition for its work in applying artificial intelligence to home healthcare. The company won the Newsweek AI Impact Award in 2025 for "Best Outcomes – Patient Care" for its work in revolutionising home healthcare through AI. It has been consistently ranked as the UK's Number 1 HealthTech company in the HealthTech 50 list. Cera received the "Best Use of Artificial Intelligence" award at the Health Tech Digital Awards in 2024. It also won the Tech for Good Award at the UK Tech Awards. Its Founder and CEO, Dr Ben Maruthappu, has been recognised as EY UK Entrepreneur of the Year 2024 and Great British Entrepreneur of the Year 2023. Cera is the first company in over 15 years to place in the Top 10 of the Deloitte Fast 50 for three consecutive years and has been named "Most Outstanding Home Care Provider" at the Home Care Awards.

Cera provides a full range of home healthcare services supported by its digital tools and AI systems. These services are designed to help people receive safe, reliable and preventative care in their own homes, while reducing pressure on hospitals and public health systems. The organisation works with governments, insurers, the NHS and local authorities to deliver care at scale, completing around 2.5 million home visits each month.

One of Cera’s core services is Elderly Care at Home. This includes daily support with activities such as washing, dressing, meals, medication reminders and mobility assistance. Carers record observations and symptoms during every visit using the Cera App, which helps build a clear record of each person’s changing needs. This information feeds into Cera’s risk prediction tools, which help staff identify if someone is at risk of falls, infections or other health concerns.

Cera also provides Nursing and Complex Care, delivered by qualified nurses and clinical staff. This service supports people with long-term health conditions such as dementia, diabetes, stroke recovery, respiratory conditions or neurological disorders. It includes tasks such as wound care, catheter management, long-term condition monitoring and medication administration. Nurses use digital health plans and AI-supported alerts to prioritise cases that need fast attention.

Another key service is Live-in Care, where trained carers stay in a person’s home full-time. This model supports people who need continuous help but want to remain in their community rather than move into residential care. Live-in carers use the same digital tools to record daily updates, ensuring continuity between live-in support and wider clinical teams.

Cera also delivers Extra Care services in housing schemes designed for older adults who need regular help but want to maintain independence. Carers provide scheduled visits and emergency support within these schemes, using the Cera App to keep track of each resident’s health needs. This ensures faster communication when health risks appear.

For individuals with learning disabilities, Cera provides Learning Disabilities Support, helping people manage daily routines and build independent living skills. Carers offer structured assistance with personal care, household tasks, appointments and social activities. Digital records help teams monitor progress, behaviour changes and support needs over time.

Cera’s Supported Living services offer tailored help for people who need ongoing support but want to live in their own accommodation or shared homes. Carers and support workers assist with personal care, medication, budgeting, community participation and day-to-day tasks. Digital data collection allows teams to coordinate support safely and consistently.

In addition to direct care services, Cera has developed several digital and AI products. The Cera App enables carers and nurses to record symptoms, vital observations, sleep patterns, mood, hydration and mobility changes in real time. This data forms the foundation for Cera’s predictive AI tools.

AI features include risk prediction algorithms for falls, infections and general health decline; AI training avatars for staff development; a 24/7 AI Carer Chatbot for real-time support; and Flight Risk AI, which identifies health changes that require immediate intervention. Cera is also developing AI Care Robots to support frontline staff and extend care capacity.