Cuideo accelerates its diversification and adds its second day center

Ten day centers in four years and a turnover of ten million just through this vertical. Cuideo has launched into the management of day centers with these objectives, with a first center incorporated in October, and has already signed the second, which is expected to open in summer in a new building in Les Corts.

Thus, the Barcelona-based company advances in the diversification of its service portfolio, which began in 2016, when it was born as a company dedicated to providing home service and support, with the aim of expanding alternatives to "stay at home" in a situation of dependency. However, as highlighted by Cuideo's Expansion Director, Guillermo Molina, they found that "families need more than a caregiver, and look for many other resources."

Since then, Cuideo has expanded to become "an ecosystem of services that goes far beyond home care for people in situations of dependency." And it is in this ecosystem that the company's entry into day centers is framed, as a piece that allows for stimulation and recovery processes. And it is that, "as Cuideo has grown, it has seen day centers as a resource with incredible potential, but sometimes underutilized."

Once the focus was placed on day centers, Cuideo began the search for centers, and found Qualivida, "the only one that met expectations." Driven by Bruno Sanllehí 15 years ago, the center prioritizes physical and emotional stimulation and recovery, far from a model focused solely on the "custody of the elderly," as Molina highlights.

"Our goal is to redefine the concept of day centers," remarks Sanllehí, now director of Cuideo Centers. The center, with between 50 and 60 users, is located in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, where it has 750 square meters. Now, the startup has signed for a second center, on a plot located in Les Corts where it will have 460 square meters on Guitard street, where there was previously a dealership.

These first two centers are part of a "very ambitious plan" that will not only stay in Barcelona, but will also reach Madrid, according to Sanhelly. This plan foresees two openings per year in the Catalan capital in 2026 and 2027, to then go to Madrid with a center in 2028, to alternate openings in both cities until reaching ten in 2029.

The company, which declines to make public the investment it will allocate to these openings and the company's global turnover, expects to bill more than ten million euros solely with the day center vertical in 2029, with about 500 users in total. And, as Molina anticipates, it will not stop there: "It will be the prelude to going to other cities."

With more than 100 employees in its offices and 2,500 active caregivers on its platform, Cuideo focuses on this area, while boosting the rest of its verticals, from home care to its e-commerce for support products and a legal service for processing dependency aid. "We are also launching a watch that allows telecare monitoring," highlights Molina, who anticipates that the startup will go even further: "We are analyzing other areas to penetrate new verticals."