Eldercare startup Age Care Labs raises $11M in new round

Eldercare platform Age Care Labs, which includes technology platform Emoha and care home chain for the elderly with dementia, Epoch, has raised $11 million in a pre-Series B round led by venture capital firms Rainmatter Capital and Gruhas. Other investors in the round include Executive Chairman of Everstone Capital Alok Oberoi, former CEO of Aditya Birla Capital Ajay Srinivasan, and others. 

Returning investor Lumis Partners, which anchored Age Labs in 2019, also participated in the round. 

“Very few people are building for the elder care segment in India and it ties in directly with the thesis for Gruhas when it comes to proptech. We are fairly bullish on this opportunity,” Nikhil Kamath, Co-founder at Gruhas and Zerodha, told YourStory. 

The company will utilise the capital to grow the number of Epoch care homes in the north and western regions while the remaining will be utilised to grow EMOHA’s presence across north, west and eastern India, Saumyajit Roy, Co-founder and CEO of EMOHA, told YourStory. 

“We are also looking at suitable merger or acquisition opportunities to increase our exposure to the domain of elder care and for geographical expansion,” said Roy. He added that there were nearly 70 players in the elder care space operating in India at present. 

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Epoch will increase the number of clusters of homes in the cities it is present in and double down on dementia daycare and caregiver training.

“We are an asset-light model, taking properties on lease, partnering with operations and maintenance providers as well as developers. Our homes are profitable at 50% occupancy and we hope to have a margin of 25% to 30% over the next one year,” said Neha Sinha, Co-founder and CEO of Epoch Elder Care. 

Age Care Labs acquired Epoch Elder Care in August 2021, while EMOHA has raised $5.23 million across multiple rounds prior to this. 

Age Care Labs operates in a segment which has seen increasing interest from startups and investors post-pandemic. Ratan Tata announced the launch of a companionship app for seniors, Goodfellows, in August 2022. Others like KareWise offer a marketplace-based service for at-home elder care.