Age Up Health has received an investment from the Alice Anderson Fund, LaunchVic’s $10 million venture capital fund for women entrepreneurs.
The fund provides up to $300,000 in matched capital to early stage startups.
Launched in March 2020, Age Up offers home care packages to help the elderly stay at home and lead the industry into the digital age. It counts Skalata Ventures among its supporters.
Founder and CEO Grace Petherick was driven by her personal experience and her own grandparents, who didn’t want to end up in a nursing home and had a bad experience with home care, to launch Age Up Health. She was traveling through the Himalayas with her parents when the idea took shape and she called her partner back in Melbourne and they pooled their savings to relaunch the business.
Peterrick said she wanted to revolutionize aged care with modern services and smarter, technology-led solutions in an industry largely unchanged over the past century.
“I knew I could do better. Solving the industry’s biggest pain points with a truly consumer-centric view is at the heart of what we do, then using accessible technology to meet people where they are,” she said.
“Our data shows that even some of our oldest customers are using mobile and SMS communications, so call automation is one way we reach customers who were under traditional models without services or communications. We are rethinking the whole model to give the elderly what they deserve.”
Peterrick said they want keep it simple, with a single fee and the same people for every visit. The offer ranges from paramedical care to dementia care and palliative health care, as well as iPad education.
“We help you shape the home care that’s right for you and give you the flexibility to make changes at any time,” she said.
The Melbourne Business School MBA graduate has: worked in business, tourism and VIP services in five countries and Age Up nominated her as a finalist for the Telstra Business Awards and receiving a City of Melbourne Innovative Business Grant.
LaunchVic CEO Dr. Kate Cornick praised Age Up Health as an emerging Victorian startup.
“The Alice Anderson Fund was developed by LaunchVic to boost investment in women-led startups,” she said.
“We are very excited to support founders like Grace who are challenging conventional paths in the aged care industry to build a product that makes a real impact.”
