A renowned launchpad for burgeoning tech companies, Silicon Valley is playing home to a growing number of senior care innovators—all with the help of a San Francisco-based accelerator and a swelling aging population, Reuters reports.
A population that is projected to have 81 million adults age 65 or older by 2050, according to data from the Pew Research Center cited by Reuters, is offering vast opportunities for innovators within the senior care space.
Helping to fuel this innovation is Aging 2.0’s GENerator, an accelerator program based in San Francisco that provides entrepreneurs with access to investors, mentors and market research opportunities for targeting an older demographic.
Headquartered at the Institute on Aging in San Francisco, the hub of Aging 2.0 includes two independent living communities, an adult day care center and a geriatric clinic located at the University of California at San Francisco.
The 11 companies named to the first class of Aging 2.0’s GENerator program vary from early-stage businesses to those that have already raised their first rounds of investment capital.
One of those companies is True Link, which is poised to launch its software-linked debit card that aims to protect seniors from financial fraud and abuse.
The product is a Visa debit card that is linked to an FDIC-insured bank account that relies on True Link’s software to block and monitor unwanted purchases, sending alerts to family members in the event of any suspicious activity. The card also allows seniors or their family members to set total monthly dollar amounts for certain categories of spending.
With senior financial fraud resulting in loses of $2.9 billion each year in the U.S., according to a MetLife study referenced by Reuters, True Link’s CEO Kai Stinchcombe sees a world of opportunity in catering to elderly adult consumers and their families.
“The idea is to get away from a blunt instrument for the caregiver, like reviewing bank transactions every day or giving a cash allowance,” Stinchcombe told Reuters. “That’s a pain, it takes a ton of time and it limits the freedom of the elderly person.”
Written by Jason Oliva
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