As tech startups turn toward the healthcare space, one particular segment of the population stands to benefit the most: the elderly. Aging population is one of Singapore’s key demographic problems – 12.4 percent of the city-state’s 5.5 million people were over 65 in 2016, up from 8.4 percent a decade before.
Many of these senior citizens require assistance and care that is not always affordable or easy to come by. Singapore-based Homage wants to help by matching seniors to quality in-home caregivers. Founded in 2016, the startup announced today it has secured a seed round of US$1.2 million.
The funding comes from 500 Startups, Golden Gate Ventures, and SeedPlus.
Homage carefully vets its care professionals through background checks, certifications, and health screenings.
Homage was founded by Gillian Tee, Lily Phang, and Tong Duong. Previously, Gillian founded coding startup CodeUpstart in San Francisco and Y Combinator-backed travel comparison platform Rocketrip, which has raised US$17.2 million to date.
Upon returning to Singapore, Gillian wanted to start a business on her home turf. Local investors introduced her to Lily. Both have aging parents, so the need to ensure they are well cared for in their old age resonated with them.
“Lily has deep regional experience in healthcare and clinical management in Asia and we have a clinical care operations team I’m proud of, that has over 30 years of combined experience in nursing and clinical operations,” Gillian tells Tech in Asia.
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Homage offers personalized home care through its website. Customers can sign up and list their specific needs, and the team assigns them the right…