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Companies Offering Unique Elderly Services
Cherry Home, CarePredict, and Cubigo are three companies, other than Cake, Hello Alfred, Pixie Scientific, Zansors, and Seismic, that offer unique services for the elderly in the United States, have a growing number of customers, have received considerable venture capital funding, and are likely to grow in the future.
CHERRY HOME
- Cherry Home offers an artificial intelligence-enabled home security system that looks after the elderly by detecting stumbles, falls, or changes in behavior or gait. It has the ability to "predict changes in long-term health." Doctors, nurses, caregivers, and family members who have chosen to receive notifications will be alerted of any serious incident.
- Cherry Home augments caregivers who cannot care for the elderly 24/7.
- The computer vision algorithms that Cherry Home uses in converting camera data into "virtual skeletons" are proprietary and therefore can be considered unique. The artificial intelligence uses these skeletons in analyzing behavior and events and assessing, for example, whether a person "might develop a limp over time." The system that Cherry Home offers is far more sophisticated than what other companies currently offer.
- Not only is Cherry Home's system more intelligent, it also offers users privacy. The video remains at the residence as there is local processing of information, and the elderly is replaced with a "virtual skeleton" in the video.
- Cherry Home boasts of a novel artificial intelligence framework that makes use of nested autoencoders.
- It was announced in December 2018 that Cherry Home was able to receive $5.2 million in Series A funding from venture capital firm GSR Ventures, which has 10 exits under its belt.
- Cherry Home was testing with 15 Bay Area families at the time, but Cherry Home's recent signing of pilot deals with in-home caregiving service TheraCare and care agency tech ecosystem TriCura is an indication that the startup's customer base is growing.
- Cherry Home, which was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in California, has the potential to grow in the future as numerous studies indicate that most seniors wish to age in place or remain at home rather than transfer to an assisted-living residence. Moreover, falls are the most common cause of injury as far as seniors are concerned.
- Moreover, according to Sunny Kumar, a GSR Ventures partner, "the Cherry Home team has the technological prowess and vision to deliver valuable products to the rapidly growing elderly care market."
- The total amount Cherry Home has been able to raise, so far, is $6.9 million. Gagarin Capital, Altair Capital, and Impulse VC were among its previous investors.
CAREPREDICT
- Florida-based CarePredict offers machine learning-powered wearables that are designed to improve the quality of life of the elderly. Its platform has the ability to provide actionable insights that (a) predict a urinary tract infection (UTI) 3.7 days earlier than what is possible with clinical diagnosis, (b) predict depression two weeks earlier than what is possible with clinical diagnosis, and (c) decrease falls by 25%.
- CarePredict's flagship product is Tempo, a wrist bracelet that features sensors, a microphone, and a speaker. The sensors detect "activities of daily living" (ADL), and observations that require immediate attention are sent right away to concerned individuals.
- CarePredict's platform is patented and proprietary and can therefore be considered unique. CarePredict's technology is also described as "cutting-edge."
- It was announced in January 2019 that CarePredict was able to secure $9.5 million from Secocha Ventures, Startup Health Ventures, and Las Olas Ventures in its Series A funding round. The total amount CarePredict has been able to raise so far is $19.7 million. This amount is inclusive of a National Science Foundation grant.
- Secocha Ventures, CarePredict's lead investor in its latest funding round, has 19 investments under its belt. It led six of these investments.
- The most recent funding will be used to finance CarePredict's expansion abroad and its forthcoming direct-to-consumer (DTC) launch. At the time the funding round was announced, CarePredict already had around ten senior living chains using its platform.
- That CarePredict is expanding beyond the United States and Canada and into Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, and China and that it has recently entered into agreements with Spring Creek Enterprise, SRI Management, and Tradition Senior Living are indications that CarePredict's customer base is growing.
- CarePredict has the potential to grow in the future given the high prevalence of falls, UTIs, and mental illnesses among older adults. It appears as well that CarePredict's impressive results have not gone unnoticed, as CarePredict was one of the few companies recently recognized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) Foundation. CarePredict has also been covered by CNN, WSJ, Forbes, and Senior Housing News.
CUBIGO
- Cubigo has developed mobile apps for iPhone and iPad that significantly simplify processes at both assisted-living and independent-living residences and that enable seniors to live independently. Senior living residents, family members, and senior living providers are the target audience of these apps.
- Providers can use the app to engage with residents and manage meals, transportation, and other activities, while residents can use the app to manage their calendars, order meals, and access entertainment or transportation. Family members, on the other hand, can use the app to stay informed about their loved ones.
- Cubigo describes its platform as "the first integrated platform for senior living." There is also a statement on its website indicating that "together with Brookdale, the biggest Senior Care Provider in the US, Cubigo has set up a unique co-creation program in order to enable the residence and [its] inhabitants with innovative technology."
- The Cubigo app also has "new, unique accessibility features" that the elderly can learn and use with ease.
- To achieve its goal of modernizing senior living faster, Cubigo has entered into partnerships with Lyft and Apple. Cubigo has become one of the mobility partners of Apple.
- Because of Cubigo's partnership with Lyft, seniors using the Cubigo app can access transportation more easily.
- It was announced in March 2018 that Cubigo was able to raise $4.5 million in a Series A venture capital funding round. Both Urbain Vandeurzen and Transvision participated in the round, with Urbain Vandeurzen as the lead investor. Vandeurzen is a Belgian investor known to invest in tech startups.
- Belgium-based Cubigo used the money from that round to expand to the United States and introduce its services to senior living communities across California, Florida, and Ohio. There were around 100,000 residents in the five communities that the company rolled out to.
- In January 2018, it was reported that Cubigo had over 20,000 users. The fact that Cubigo was able to expand to the United States and roll out to communities with around 100,000 residents is an indication that Cubigo's customer base is growing.
- Cubigo, which was founded in 2011 and now has an office in San Francisco, has the potential to grow in the future as it expanded to the United States at a phase where the elderly are becoming more receptive to technology.