In much of Finland, about half of the adult population will be over 65 by 2030. The 65–79 age group is wider compared to the young people moving out for work, which, as per projections, would result in old-age dependency. The dependency that is concerning is health serving as an opportunity for a growing number of age-tech startups in Nordic.
So, with the home care market only in Europe worth over €100B and growing 8% annually, enters Helsinki, Southern Finland-based concierge for old-age health and companionship, Helppy. Helppy age tech startup leverages technology to provide healthcare support to seniors and their families as a single point of contact for all. Founded in 2018, Helppy is a personalized elderly care platform offering personal care, family support and a broad range of additional services to the elderly at home.
Age tech startup Helppy now automates tasks related to caregiving services such as cleaning, nursing and helping with chores while keeping up with guests and relatives who’d occasionally visit the aged person. A user-friendly app, Helppy, is designed with old-age usage in mind with a freemium Family portal to get families started with organizing all paperwork ahead of their parent’s aging.
So far, as per Crunchbase, Helppy has raised €3.4M in its Seed rounds backed by Alliance Venture, Elias Aalto, Icebreaker.vc and Johannes Schildt. Founder and CEO of Helppy, Richard Nordstrom, suggests that the annual recurring revenue is now at €1M with “strong” underlying profitability. As per the pre-funding financial analysis, the company has estimated a break-even soon.
Richard, a former consultant with McKinsey and the Boston Consulting Group, bootstrapped Helppy for 2.5 years from his savings after experiencing difficulties faced by his aging mother. He wanted to build a solution to navigate the logistics of arranging care for an elderly living in their home. In developing the app, Richard acquired hands-on experience working with older people to understand their daily chores and places they need support.
At a time when young entrepreneurs are ready to ask for funding, Richard had a conservative take, a prudent one. As per an earlier interview with Bloomberg, he said, “I always thought that I don’t want to raise money before I know what the solution starts to be,” he said. The funds raised will be spent hiring developers and setting up shop in large central European markets the company has yet to choose.” He further added that “Startups should have a mindset to almost be back to profitability before each funding round.”
With the fresh funding, Helppy plans to expand beyond Finland. With this model of personalized care for aging and sick families, the Finnish startup has already helped nearly a thousand families in Finland and attracted over 5000+ nurses and personal assistants to sign up on the platform and offer their help to seniors in need. With this model, the ‘helppers’ or nurses keep a close eye on the visitors for ultimate safety.
Struggling with parents getting older and the vulnerability around aging push many children to a feeling of guilt as they live a work life far away from their families. This feeling is debilitating to the mental health of all. A person has the experience required for parenting a second child, but the same person wouldn’t know how to be available for their aging parents beyond money. This is where the relevance of age tech startup Helppy meets the world.
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