Trust is one of the most important aspects of selecting a caregiver and Onēva believes that it has a vetting process that’s better than the rest.
The San Francisco-based booking platform for elder, child and special needs care, screens its applicants with fingerprinting technology and FBI background checks as well as reference checks and interviews. Onēva touts a 6% acceptance rate.
It is not only for caregivers but also for housecleaning, driving and other services. Instead of making the Onēva platform available to all consumers, it’s working with companies like Microsoft to make this an employee benefit.
Onēva lets people with a company email sign up for the website and select the type of service they are seeking. The startup then works with them to assess their needs and send the right person.
Onēva is rolling out its platform in conjunction with TechCrunch Disrupt, where CEO and co-founder Anita Darden Gardyne is presenting in our Battlefield competition. She said that they’ve been getting the technology ready to support more customers. The team recently filed for a patent to create videos for their professionals to market their services.
Gardyne says she’s “thrilled to be on the stage at Disrupt” and “to be able to share our story and show what can happen when you bring together a diverse set of people who are just focused on how to grow and create a good business.”
Gardyne also believes it’s “never been a better time to be a black female entrepreneur,” because she’s encountering more people who want to work with minority founders. She said that Jesse Jackson introduced her to helpful people at Microsoft, HP and Intel.
Since it was founded in 2015, Onēva has raised over $1 million in convertible notes from investors including renowned law firm Wilson Sonsini. But she’s hoping to raise more funding to accelerate the business.
Fernando Hernandez, supplier diversity and sustainability director at Microsoft said that “no one is more for focused, hardworking and divine then Anita. She is success in action and yes her business is creating great value for Microsoft (this is table stakes). I have been happy to recommended her company to Apple, Oracle and others.”
Mrs. Gardyne has co-founded the business with her husband, Bob Garydne. Mr. Garydyne has held several high-level engineering jobs, including at Xros and Jupiter Systems.