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Who Is Funding the AgeTech Revolution in 2021?

When I first wrote this article, in early 2019, there were a handful of venture capital funds that were specifically focused on funding agetech startups. And while the total number of dedicated agetech funds hasn’t dramatically increased since then, the number of dollars invested in agetech certainly has. So what has changed in agetech funding in the past two and a half years?

The Past Decade in AgeTech Funding

Let’s start by taking a closer look at how agetech funding have changed over the past decade. According to Crunchbase, the amount of annual venture funding for eldercare has grown 10x since 2011, and surpassed $1 billion in 2020.

Source: Crunchbase

It wasn’t until 2014 that Generator Ventures and Ziegler Link-age announced their first dedicated agetech funds. It’s probably not a coincidence that in the subsequent year, 2015, the number of deals (according to Crunchbase) almost doubled, and has stayed stable for the remainder of the decade.

Both Generator Ventures and Ziegler Link-age have since raised a second fund, and have a combined portfolio of 28 companies and 4 exits. Carelinx, which was acquired in August of this year was backed by both of these funds.

Soon, more funds were raised to invest in startups tackling the challenges of aging: Third Act Ventures, Mediterranean Towers Ventures, 1843 Capital, Portfolia’s Active Aging and Longevity fund, Primetime Partners and CABHI’s MC2 fund – all launched in the second half of the decade. Most recently, in September 2021, the Louisville HealthCare Council which has acquired Aging2.0, announced “$50 million in strategic investments capital, which will identify and fund entrepreneurs, providing critical financial resources to support innovation in the aging space”

Last June, Crunchbase released another overview on eldercare funding, in which 2020 appears to be a record year in investments.

Source: Crunchbase

It’s worth noting that two companies account for almost half of that $1.14 billion eldercare funding; healthcare company Devoted Health has raised $450 million in 2020, and tech-enabled home care Honor raised $140 million. But even if we reduce their numbers from the total amount, 2020 surpasses 2019.

It is obvious that dedicated AgeTech funds can only account for a fraction of the funding. Remember, there are only a handful of funds, and they’re not huge, billion dollar funds. Ziegler Link-age’s two funds are $60 million combined, and Primetime Partner’s fund is $32 million. So who else is investing in the agetech revolution?

In the overlap between agetech and digital health, we can find digital health funds like StartUp Health. Startup Health invests in “a global army of Health Transformers”, and has backed numerous agetech companies, from wearable makers like UnaliWear and CarePredict to healthcare companies that serve older adults like Devoted Health. Digital health funding has been growing steadily in recent years, with no signs of slowing down – will this be the trend for agetech as well?

Source: Rock Health

Generalist Funds

A quick review of venture capital funds that have invested in agetech startups that were featured on the 2021 agetech market map reveals that there are at least 10 global generalist funds that have backed three agetech companies or more. Some notable funds include Andreessen Horowitz which has led Honor’s series A, participated in their following rounds and also backed Devoted Health and Bold. Khosla ventures has also invested in Bold, as well as in Rappora (acquired by Careswitch), True Link Financial, Catalia Health and others. Bessemer Venture Partners has backed Carefull, ClearCare (acquired by Wellsky) and Vayyar. Right Side Capital Management is another big fund with lots of activity in agetech. They’ve backed TCare, Storii, The Helper Bees, CareAcademy and others.

Accelerator Funds:

Even before the launch of the first cohort of the Techstars Future of Longevity accelerator (in collaboration with Melinda Gates’ Pivotal Ventures), Techstars was leading the pack in agetech funding among accelerator funds. On top of investments in Future of Longevity alumni, Techstars has also backed alumni from its other programs – CareAcademy, The Helper Bees and SensorCall are just a few examples. Y Combinator, which doesn’t have a dedicated agetech track (yet? : ) has backed several agetech alumni – including True Link Financial and Papa. 500 Startups also has several agetech companies in the portfolio. Their alumni include Silvernest, Homage and Siren (which was also backed by Khosla).

When it comes to organizations with domain expertise, both the AARP and the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation (CABHI) have acceleration programs designed help startups tap into the $15 trillion longevity economy.

The AARP runs the AARP Innovation Labs, which has backed more than 30 companies. CABHI offers tailored acceleration programs, and they have raised more than $200 million to support their alumni.

Impact Funds:

Impact funds like Rethink Impact, Ananda Impact Ventures, Trailmix Ventures and others. Some specifically state that they’re looking to fund agetech startups, others simply state they’re looking for big ideas that change the world for the better.

I have no doubt that the agetech investor landscape will grow and evolve in the upcoming years, which, in turn, will enable the agetech space to grow and evolve, similar to the way digital health has in the past decade.

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