Live Oak Ventures, the investment arm of Wilmington-headquartered Live Oak Bank, recently announced an investment in Sunbound, a technology-enabled finance platform for the senior housing industry.

Live Oak Ventures' investment will help “accelerate Sunbound's product development,” according to a news release issued by the company on Dec. 4. Sunbound aims to streamline financial processes for senior housing communities.

Founded in 2021, Sunbound has offices in Washington, D.C. and Phoenix. According to Sunbound’s news release, the company has grown more than 20 times this year by partnering with senior housing operators of all sizes across the U.S. Sunbound's platform allows for online digital payments, claims management, data insights and improved cash flow for senior living operators.

"We are excited about forging a strategic partnership with Live Oak, one of the largest and most respected senior housing lenders nationally,” Sunbound CEO Manny Cominsky wrote in the release. “They have seen firsthand the meaningful, measurable impact of our product through our work with their own senior living loan portfolio."

"The Live Oak team brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, both in financial technology and the senior living industry," Cominsky added. "We look forward to collaborating with their team to achieve our shared vision of solving operators' most pressing challenges, improving their financial performance and meeting the evolving needs of their residents."

According to the release, senior living operators spend “significant time and effort dealing with manual and inefficient financial workflows, which hurts profitability and strains cash flow.” Sunbound's platform aims to address these challenges with accounts receivable automation tools and flexible working capital solutions that simplify payments and increase cash flow. 

“By streamlining the payment process for families, supporting community teams and providing essential capital access for operators, Sunbound helps communities remain resilient in a demanding industry,” the release stated.

The investment from Live Oak will help boost the company’s product development with a focus on expanding its software and financing product suite, enhancing its analytics and AI capabilities and expanding its go-to-market activities, according to the release. Sunbound also plans to continue to scale its customer support team to serve its influx of operators.

In the release, Live Oak Bank Chief Strategy Officer Stephanie Mann highlighted Live Oak’s excitement about the recent investment.

“Our team understands the challenges of operating in the senior housing market. Sunbound is offering an important, next-generation financial operating system that helps businesses navigate those challenges,” Mann stated in the release. “We are excited to invest in a company that is helping to advance and simplify revenue generation for a vertical we have been serving for many years.”

Live Oak Ventures has invested in a range of financial technology-focused firms in recent years. Most recently, the investment group led a funding round this fall for Synply, a loan syndication spin-off of Live Oak Bank.