SINGAPORE: Three teams of entrepreneurs received seed funding and mentorship support on Friday (Dec 4) for solutions they have developed to serve the needs of the elderly.
Teams Altrue, Pillpresso, and SoundEye were the top teams out of almost one hundred which had participated in the inaugural Modern Aging Singapore initiative, jointly organized by ACCESS Health International and NUS Enterprise.
The top two corecipients – Altrue and Pillpresso – were awarded fifty thousand Singapore dollars each, while SoundEye was given twenty five thousand Singapore dollars.
Altrue is developing sensors to protect bedridden patients from pressure ulcers and infections, while Pillpresso is developing an automated pill dispenser. Meanwhile, SoundEye is working on sensors to detect elderly falling at home.
Modern Aging Singapore was launched in August. During the past four months, more than five hundred participants took part in workshops, industry talks, and individual mentoring sessions.
NUS Enterprise CEO Lily Chan said: “This initiative highlighted the multidimensional needs of the silver sector and encouraged teams to take action.”
Going forward, there are plans to hold Modern Aging Singapore on an annual basis, with future expansion in the region.
“I think we’re going to see a lot of entrepreneurs coming out of this programme,” said Ms. Chan. “Other future programs, we are looking into verticals, so healthcare aging is one. There are a lot of other verticals we can think about. I think our team is starting to curate some of these verticals, so there will be a lot more coming up from NUS Enterprise.”