These Are the 5 Agetech Startups You Should Watch in 2022
2022 in agetech is off to a great start. Multiple companies presented or won awards at CES, there were big acquisitions and funding rounds. 2021 wasn’t too bad either, to read the full recap, go here.
So, which agetech companies should we keeping an eye on during 2022?
Making it’s second appearance on the AgeTech Startups to Watch list, Honor was established in 2014 by serial entrepreneurs who sold their previous companies to Google and Slack, and backed by some of the world’s best VCs. From the get go, Honor had a huge vision – to disrupt the fragmented (and fast-growing) non-medical home care market. After raising $625M and achieving unicorn status, Honor acquired Home Instead – the largest home care franchise in the world.
Why are they on the list?
The acquisition of Home Instead makes Honor the largest player in the $500B home care market, with an estimated value of $2B home care business. Prior to that, Honor provided its home care services in California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Ohio, and Michigan. Now – it’s a global player. On top of all of this, Crunchbase predicts that Honor will go public in 2022, and that is definitely something to look forward to.
Another company making its second appearance on the list, The Helper Bees (THB) is led by founders with extensive experience in both home care and senior living.
THB enables older adults who want to age independently at home to do so with support of their insurance carriers. They partner with insurance companies and families directly to deliver the best quality care and the right tools to improve the home care experience.
After raising their A round of $6M in 2020, they made a strategic acquisition (of Healthalign) to expand into Medicare Advantage. After increasing revenue by 3x in just over a year and increasing their team size by 8x, THB announced a B round of $12.8M.
Why are they on the list?
THB plans to use the additional funding “to expand its Aging-in-Place Marketplace services and delivery to reach a wider variety of aging Americans, regardless of who ultimately pays for the services… employers and organizations that want to provide their constituents with easy access to services that help those who are caring for a loved one as they age.” With a strategic acquisition and 8x team size, THB is well on its way to achieving its mission.
GetSetUp is the largest digital community for older adults to learn, share and socialize. Since its founding date in 2019, they’ve reached +4M older adults from 160 countries.
Recently, they’ve raised $10M, bringing their total funding amount to $20M. They’ve also announced partnerships with Uber to teach older adults to use their app, with the largest employee benefits firms to make their product available to employees, with the State of New York and with Tivity Health Partners to make GetSetUP available through Silver Sneakers.
Why are they on the list?
After reaching the mind-blowing milestone of more than 4M older users in under three years, forming strategic partnerships, launching new features like the recent startup accelerator program for 55+, and raising growth capital, GetSetUp is on the right path to dominating the older-adult online education market.
As a company that specializes in 4D imaging that’s saised $188M, Vayyar’s sensors have been used for multiple use cases, fall detection is one of them.
In the past the Vayyar home sensor was available for purchase either by consumers or by elder care providers, but it is now available exclusively to Amazon Alexa users – through Alexa together – Amazon’s new subscription service for family caregivers. Vayyar has also formed a strategic partnership with Haier to bring its fall detection technology to the Chinese market.
Why are they on the list?
Although Amazon has been offering Alexa features for family caregivers since 2020, this is the first time they’ve partnered with third party hardware vendors and charged for a monthly membership. Vayyar gets to benefit not only from Amazon’s distribution capabilities, but also from their 24/7 call center that’s able to respond to falls that their sensor detects – a major plus for a fall detection systems.
Last but not least on the annual agetech startups to watch list is Gogotech, maker of Abby.
Abby is a new personal electric vehicle, which is not only foldable and lightweight, but also comes with a set of powerful skills – such as autonomous driving and obstacle avoidance. (Full disclosure – I got to mentor this company as part of Techstars Future of Longevity accelerator program.)
Why are they on the list?
Gogotech has got a team that’s not only passionate about creating a more inclusive society with connected personal mobility, but also has the right skills and experience to do so.
Watch their pitch on demo day:
The companies mentioned on this list have all achieved major milestones – from bringing a hardware product to market to strategic acquisitions and partnerships and becoming a unicorn. They’ve raised almost $1B combined. Each and every one of these companies has either created a new market category, or it is set to disrupt an existing one.
Know any other agetech companies that should be on everyone’s radar in 2022? Feel free to direct-message me using the contact page.