Boston’s population is becoming older than ever before. According to a 2014 official report, more than 14 percent of Boston’s residents in 2010 was 60 years or elder, representing 88,000 senior people. By 2030, projected increases in the older population will result in as many as 130,000 seniors.
Luckily for Bostonian seniors, there are a few startups in their backyard that aim to improve the quality of life for the elderly population. The following local companies are all trying to address a challenge that has to do with the seniors, their relatives or their caretakers. Since life expectancy in the U.S. is 79 years, these startups may have some chance to scale their business nationally.
Among the eight finalists of this year’s MIT $100K competition, this Cambridge-based startup is developing a virtual reality software specifically for the aging population. The problem they’re trying to address is the isolation and the lack of socialization that many assisted-living residents, unfortunately, end up experimenting. By connecting through a VR device, users can revisit their childhood homes, explore places and remotely attend events.
An MIT spinoff, the company won the $40,000 gold prize at this year’s PULSE Finale and was among the eight finalists at the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition last May.
The elderly are not the only ones who can benefit from tech-based social interactions. Launched by Redstar Ventures, Kinto is an app that offers caregivers a set of digital tools to help them take care of their loved ones, but also to connect with people who had similar experiences. Tools include information about home safety, Medicare, healthy living and managing meds, but also a messaging feature to set up "care teams."
"A lot of people, when they look at the aging market, they look at the medical side, the financial side, but they don't necessarily look at the caregivers, especially the unpaid caregivers," Kinto CEO Jeet Singh said in an interview with Bostinno.
Full Circle
The idea behind this startup is that children can benefit from the company of seniors and vice versa. Currently, the company is creating partnerships with community centers and preschools, as well as recruiting and training senior volunteers interested in spending time in a preschool classroom with kids around three to five years old.
Full Circle founder Quinn Lockwood, a master’s candidate at Harvard who used to be a preschool teacher and a volunteer at a nursing home, won a 3-month fellowship from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in partnership with the Harvard iLab to keep working on her project. “By the end of the summer, I would hope that I would be able to have a lot of information and data points about how to do intergenerational programs well,” Lockwood said.
This startup, which presented at Techstars Demo Day this year, provides online classes for senior caregivers. Topics range from Communicating with older adults to Preventing falls. The company has raised a $1.5 million seed round led by Rethink Education and landed a $620,000 pilot with a franchisor that could turn into a contract worth $6.5 million in annual recurring revenue.
Think we're missing a company? Email me at lmaffei@americaninno.com
