Solutions for Seniors: 3 Promising Start-ups to Watch
Modern Aging top teams tackle legacy planning, dental care and retirement planning
With Singapore’s elder population expected to double from 440,000 to 900,000 by 2030, should we view this greying demographic as a burden, or an opportunity? Meet the entrepreneurs who are seeking to help seniors live better as they live longer.
Emerging from eight teams that were selected to go through a comprehensive business accelerator programme under Modern Aging Singapore, three teams were awarded a total of SGD$100,000 in seed funding to further develop their innovative solutions that cater to the challenges and opportunities within the silver sector. Find out more about the winners!
1. Timeliss
When a loved one passes away, most family members are unprepared for it. They experience a range of emotions including distress, grief and worry about how to handle issues such as legal affairs, insurance claims and other post-death administration. Timeliss provides a holistic framework that brings health, wealth and legacy planning onto one platform, empowering people to prepare themselves for end-of-life matters. The one-stop online platform provides information on what to do, with templates and checklists for those who wish to take action, as well as links to relevant professional services.
Co-founded by NUS Overseas Colleges alumni Gerald Tan and Kat Neo, Timeliss has partnered with legal firms, religious organisations, government agencies and other entities to offer both online and offline professional services. With the funding from Modern Aging, the team seeks to strengthen their product and add new services in 2019.
2. Eden
Nearly 80% of seniors above 65 years are missing teeth. And while dentures are the proven solution, discomfort means in many seniors forego this option, resulting in a reduced quality of life. Comfortable dentures require taking an accurate dental impression, which is the imprint of the hard and soft tissue within the mouth that forms the cast for making the dentures. Currently, this is done by the user biting into impression material that is placed within a standard tray. If the impression is not precise, a bad fit leads to uncomfortable dentures. Eden’s mission is to provide dentures for the aged that are easy in cost, comfort and quality. They are developing the Easy Tray, an automated tray system that is customised to the user’s jaw and mouth structure, to produce accurate dental impressions. Eden has applied for several patents for the Easy Tray, which leverages advanced optics, 3D design and 3D printing technologies. The team aims to launch Easy Tray by mid-2019, targeting first the senior activity centres in Singapore, then local public and private healthcare clinics, before scaling to international markets, in particular the U.S.
3. ĀN
As a nation of homeowners, much of Singaporean retirees’ wealth are locked up in illiquid assets such as housing and CPF, leaving them with limited cash savings for retirement. ĀN is well-suited for retiree private property homeowners, who are after an equitable solution that provides them the peace of mind of a guaranteed monthly pay-out for life to supplement their retirement savings. ĀN is able to achieve this via its unique property monetisation model, where retirees can authorise institutional investors to purchase a portion of their home equity. The homeowners retain the right to live in the comfort of their own homes for life, continuing to gain from potential capital appreciation and will have the option of leaving behind their stake in the property for next-of-kin as part of their estate. The team is currently working with industry leaders from Singapore’s property, asset-management, research and regulatory communities to refine the product, and aims to launch this service by end-2019.
“We have noticed that aging is gaining more and more interest from the corporate sector. This year, we are grateful for the support from our industry partners, including new partner OCBC Bank. They are actively developing insights on how they can better serve their aging customers. By providing a node of networks and expertise, Modern Aging is the go-to platform for corporations that perceive aging as a growing business opportunity.” — Fredrik Knoeff, Country Director Singapore, ACCESS Health International.
“Modern Aging has become more than just an accelerator programme. It is also an education platform, to provide more information on the aging experience as well as a community which brings together industry experts, mentors, seniors, innovators and anyone interested in empowering people to live longer and live better. I am delighted to see some of our past Modern Aging teams showing good progress, including raising funding, commercialising their products, and scaling their solutions for greater impact.” — Dr Lily Chan, CEO NUS Enterprise.
Modern Aging Singapore is a community, accelerator, and education platform with the objective to create new businesses that help people live better as they live longer. Modern Aging is the co-creation of ACCESS Health International and NUS Enterprise. Visit our website at www.modernaging.sg
