Halifax-based Tenara Care on Tuesday announced the closing of a $7.4 million funding round led by Build Ventures and Export Development Canada.

The company, whose system uses wearable devices to track the movements of seniors in residential care homes, said the round includes $2.1 million in bridge funding to finalize product development and $5.3 million to support a Canadian and U.S. growth plan.

Tenera’s Real Time Location Service, or RTLS, helps long term care homes keep track of their residents, staff and assets with the goal of improving safety and operations. The system, which is used by homes across North America, analyzes data to improve workflow, care, and business outcomes, said the company.

“The Long Term Care space, particularly those facilities focused on complex care and memory care environments, need the Tenera Care solution,” said Rob Barbara, general partner at Build Ventures. “It is a practical, pragmatic and affordable platform that improves resident health and safety while also creating happier and more satisfied employees. That kind of win-win solution will make Tenera Care very attractive to operators across North America.”

Tenara, which announced a $750,000 raise in 2021, said that the funders in the current round included some returning investors.

Said Tenera CEO Stephen Fitzgerald: “The Long Term Care market needs innovative solutions to protect residents and better support staff. This funding advances Tenera Care’s industry-leading location tracking and fall detection while fueling strategic growth. We are already seeing strong interest in both the Canadian and United States markets.”

Tenera Care said in a statement that residents can use its system to call for assistance from anywhere, and it identifies situations where they may need help and automatically calls for them. The system also identifies trends in resident mobility, socialization and other factors.

Three years ago, Tenera launched a pilot program with Halifax-based retirement home company Shannex, which owns assisted living facilities throughout Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Ontario. Today, Shannex is a strategic partner of the company.  

“At Shannex, we have seen firsthand the benefits of the Tenera Care platform to improve the health and wellbeing of our residents,” said Jason Shannon, president of Shannex.  “This location-based technology empowers our managers with data-driven insights and improves the performance and job satisfaction of our staff.”