Mable – think Airtasker for aged care and disability support workers – is hoping to become a unicorn 11 years after its founding if it find a buyer willing to pay $1 billion.
Mable was cofounded in 2014 by Peter Scutt and Tony Charara. The tech platform raised $100 million in September 2021 in a round led by US private equity firm General Atlantic and counts tennis champion and Paralympic gold medalist Dylan Alcott among its backers. It also banked a $15 million round led by Ellerston Capital’s JAADE Fund in 2019
The Australian reported that in 2024 Mable was a top 10 providers of NDIS and aged-care services provider by payments volume; and generates around $839m of annual revenue.
It lets people find support workers to help them in daily life. The business also acquired NDIS companies Leapin and HomeMade.
But last month Mable fell foul of consumer watchdog the ACCC, after admitting it breached Australian Consumer Law using unfair contract terms when connecting people seeking care support to independent support workers.
The unfair terms ran between November 2023 and August 2024, and included the potential for Mable to receive a minimum penalty fee of $5,000 from clients and support workers. It meant, for example, that a support worker who left the Mable platform would be liable for the penalty fee if they continued to care for a client they were introduced to by Mable at any time over the next year.
The terms also provided for a client’s ‘service log’ (like a timesheet) to be automatically deemed approved unless the client disputed it within 24 hours without providing a contractual right for the client to opt-out or dispute the invoice for the relevant services once the service log was deemed to have been accepted.
Other terms allowed Mable to change some of its fees and terms without reasonable notice. Mable also included terms which sought to limit its liability for claims and losses.
ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe said it was a concern that these unfair terms involved people experiencing vulnerabilities and disadvantage.
“We were concerned Mable’s unfair contract terms potentially disadvantaged its clients, about half of whom are NDIS participants, as well as the support workers operating as sole traders or small businesses,” she said.
“We were concerned that the terms, which Mable has admitted were unfair, were so weighted in Mable’s favour that they created a significant imbalance in the contractual rights and obligations between Mable and its clients and support workers.”
Mable cooperated with the ACCC’s investigation, amended its website and terms of use and offered a court-enforceable undertaking to address the regulator’s concerns.
The NDIS Commission introduced compulsory registration for NDIS providers from July.
Mable is reportedly up for sale through Record Point.
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