123Fab #88

1 topic, 2 key figures, 3 startups to draw inspiration from

Our world is experiencing unprecedented demographic change. By 2050, the median age of EU citizens is expected to increase by 4.5 years, there will be almost half a million centenarians and 20% of the world’s population – or 2 billion people – will be over 60. The over-60 population is growing faster than any other age group. Increasingly tech-savvy and, after being left behind by technology companies, they now represent a new, growing and promising market for those companies. CDP Venture Capital, Ancona’s Fondazione Marche, and early-stage VC firm SOSV have put their heads together to jointly launch Europe’s first accelerator Next Age to support startups offering innovative solutions specifically targeting the booming Silver Economy.

There is a growing trend towards home care or a different environment from the traditional retirement home. In France, 85-90% of people want to age at home (INSEE). In response, retirement home operators and the sector’s historical groups are reorganizing and new initiatives are flourishing with innovative start-ups. Between 2006 and 2021, the number of home care services companies increased from 500 to 40,000 according to EcoRéseau Business. The group Korian, which owns more than 1,100 elderly care establishments in Europe, acquired Petit Fils in 2018, a French network of home help services for dependent elderly people. The group also offers, through its subsidiary Ages & Vie, shared accommodation solutions for the elderly with the support of carers. Several such alternative housing models are emerging, between home care and retirement homes. The start-up Colette, which raised €1 million in 2020, connects people under the age of 30 looking for accommodation with senior citizens who have a spare room in their house or flat. Similarly, the startup Domani offers inclusive housing for the elderly with a loss of autonomy, by bringing together 8 senior roommates in adapted housing that is open to the city, where they can share a common life, home help expenses, and intergenerational activities. In the Netherlands, the startup Hamlet, developed by Life Europe, offers seniors a contemporary living concept in a small village with independent housing but many common areas, especially outdoors. It is possible to benefit easily from care or home help because everything is grouped together on site.

This change of model towards home care or shared accommodation for seniors has also led to the development of age tech, i.e. technology designed to meet the needs of the elderly and their carers, especially since the covid crisis. In France, there are more than 450,000 falls per year and 12,000 fall-related deaths per year. Several startups are tackling this problem to make it easier for older people to age at home.  The start-up Cocoon Care, nominated for the SilverEco 2021 Awards, offers a technology housed in a discreet box installed on a wall or ceiling, without cameras, buttons, or batteries. The sensors analyze everyday life and automatically alert in case of emergency, for example in the event of a fall. They also provide information on activity, making it possible to identify changes in behavior. Belgian startup Kaspard, which offers the same type of solution for senior residences, raised €3.1 million last year. Globally, venture capital is showing a lot of interest in age tech, which has received over $6.5 billion in investment and has over 600 funded companies (Tracxn). Homecare is also driving several startups to develop in health monitoring and risk prediction. This is the case of the startup Presage, which has developed a digital medical device for remote monitoring to predict the risk of hospitalization. Based on AI, it estimates through an application, asking questions to caregivers, the state of autonomy of a senior and predicts his risk of hospitalization in the next 2 weeks with more than 80% reliability. This improves the medical follow-up and the quality of life of people aging at home.

The aging of the population and the desire of the elderly to age at home are forcing the traditional retirement home model to re-emerge and allowing the development of numerous start-ups. Technologies will have to evolve to keep pace with the succession of generations, better trained in digital technology. This concerns for example all the robots that are being developed to assist the elderly in their homes, prevent risks and keep them in contact with their families.

2 Key Figures

Elder Care Services Market to expand at a CAGR of 7.6% over the period 2022-2031

GlobeNewswire – 2022

+$1,000M invested by VCs in elder care between 2018 and 2020

Crunchbase

3 startups to draw inspiration from

Colette

The startup Colette has developed a marketplace allowing seniors who have a spare room at home to rent it to a young person, to break the solitude while generating additional income. It is aimed at people under 30 and over 60, with rooms rented at an average of 512 euros per month, including all charges.

Cocoon Care

The startup Cocoon Care has developed a solution for detecting falls and risk situations for seniors at home or in nursing homes. With no cameras, batteries, objects to wear or buttons, the Cocoon sensor can detect any type of fall, up to 20m2, and automatically alerts caregivers or family. It can also identify the weak signals that are precursors to loss of autonomy.

Presage

The startup Presage has developed an AI based on predictive medicine capable of detecting frailty and predicting over 80% of emergency room visits. Algorithms were trained with 500,000 real-life data and model the symptomatic evolution of seniors. They are based on the observation of mobility, nutrition, sensory and cognitive functions and psycho-social status.

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