CarePenguin

The elderly population is growing rapidly, projected to nearly double by 2050. 75% of senior citizens want to age in their own home and many have to age in place due to the lack of senior living space or in-home care because of this rapidly growing population. It’s also not affordable for many people to move into a facility or hire in-home care. This leaves family caregivers, mainly women, to care for their aging parents while also caring for their children and working. These family caregivers check in on their aging parents by calling/texting/or visiting, which can be inconvenient and socially difficult, but they care deeply for their loved one. Older adults want to remain independent and often refuse to wear fall detection wearables. The question that CarePenguin strives to answer is how do we enable our elderly loved ones to age in place safely without being invasive of their privacy and taking away their independence?

CarePenguin is a sensor and app that brings peace of mind to families with elderly loved ones living independently by simply detecting if the senior citizen is turning their taps on and off as usual. The CarePenguin In-Home Activity Sensor easily hooks onto the hot water pipe output on a water heater, plugs into a nearby outlet, and connects to the home’s wifi. No tools are needed to install! The sensor takes the temperature of that pipe and anytime someone turns on a faucet in the house, our sensor detects it. It’s a simple sign of life. Family caregivers use the app to see their loved one’s activity, receive alerts for lack of activity, and invite other family members to their account. It’s simple, non-invasive, and a fraction of the price of other solutions on the market. The CarePenguin sensor costs $99 which comes with a free version of the app. Users can upgrade to CarePenguin Premium for $48/year to set up and receive notifications for lack of activity and invite other caregivers to their account. We are also looking to expand into the senior living industry and empower senior living staff to keep tabs on their residents and prioritize care.

Our solution serves both the caregiver and the older adult themself. According to the CDC, one out of four people aged 65 or older fall each year, and their chances of falling again double. An estimated 684,000 individuals die from falls globally. Ever since I’ve started CarePenguin, I’ve heard countless stories about elderly loved ones that fell in their home, and no one found out, leading to death. CarePenguin has the potential to save lives by detecting anomalies in behavior and alerting a loved one. In fact, one of our customers got a CarePenguin notification that activity at her grandmother’s house was low. She called and found out her grandma was sick in bed and was able to get care for her. CarePenguin also brings peace of mind to the families of senior citizens, ensuring their loved one is okay and alerting them if they’re not.

We are the perfect team to build this solution because we are the customer: we built this for ourselves. My grandparents were getting older and my family started worrying about them, especially after a few incidents they'd had. We came up with this homemade solution to put a sensor on their water heater to detect if they were using water as usual. Anytime we couldn't get a hold of my grandma and we were worried, we simply checked to see if she had used water recently to put our minds at ease. It worked so well for us that we wanted to share this solution with the rest of the world. We built this product for us and all of our friends are in similar situations with their parents aging loved ones.

We are boot-strapped and spent most of our own funding and funding from family and friends to bring our product to market. This prize money would be huge for CarePenguin. Our customers love CarePenguin, but we don’t have much brand awareness. We will use the prize money on marketing to spread the word that our solution exists as well as use it for business development and sales to expand into senior living facilities as well as healthcare and PACE (Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly) programs.

CarePenguin is using data to detect behavior in a way that no one else in the space is: through water use. Other companies are overthinking the solution and using the latest and greatest technology to solve it such as AI cameras, changes in Wifi waves to detect motion, etc. However, these solutions can be invasive of privacy and expensive. CarePenguin’s solution is simple: if your loved one is turning their taps on and off like normal, they’re okay. If not, you may want to check in on them. It’s non-invasive, and inexpensive.

Our goal is to expand our solution to senior living facilities and learn more about how we can serve healthcare providers. In a year, we aim to have five enterprise customers at senior living facilities. In five years, we want CarePenguin to be a must-have for any senior living facility as well as be available through Medicare Advantage plans and PACE programs. Achieving these goals will include a lot of relationship building, product development, and sales. Now, I am working on customer discovery interviews in the senior living industry and figuring out what features an enterprise product would need to have.

Right now, progress would be having senior living facilities agree to a pilot program with us. In terms of direct-to-consumer, progress would like growing sales through our distribution channels of Best Buy and Amazon as well as good feedback from our customers. The most rewarding part of growing his business is to hear from the families about how CarePenguin has impacted their life.

I believe in order for something to change for the better, you have to have a product that is just better than what is already out there. It saves time, it saves money, it saves lives, something substantial. I also believe that in order to compete in the market, you need a sustainable competitive advantage: something that truly sets you apart from the competition. CarePenguin has both of these things. Our product is simpler, easier to install, non-invasive, comprehensive, and a fraction of the price of other solutions. It saves caregivers time and has the potential to save older adults' lives as well as save insurance providers money on high-cost incidents.

We are a SaaS business enabled by a little bit of hardware. Our sensor simply takes the temperature of the hot water pipe output on a water heater and detects when that temperature spikes up, indicating that a senior citizen is active and going about their normal routine. Our app for family caregivers displays that data and sends push notifications if there is a lack of activity. Our enterprise product we are building for senior living staff includes a dashboard of residents, their activity state, and prioritizes who needs care.

Diversity is extremely important to us. CarePenguin was started by me (a woman) and a majority of our advisors are women as well. We believe that the best ideas come from all different people, and we strive to include everyone.

Our business model is to provide value to families with elderly loved ones living independently. Customers can currently purchase our product on our website, Best Buy, or Amazon. The sensor costs $99 and comes with a free version of the app. Users can upgrade to CarePenguin Premium to set up and receive notifications for lack of activity as well as invite other family members to their account. We are also looking to expand into the B2B space by providing value to senior living facilities to keep tabs on their residents and prioritize care.

Our plan for becoming financially sustainable is to expand into the B2B space. Direct-to-consumer is difficult, especially since we are bootstrapped and don't have a lot of funding to spend on marketing. Making bigger sales to senior living facilities through personal selling will help us become not only financially sustainable, but extremely successful in growth.

Right after I graduated from college in May 2020, I raised $100k from friends and family to build out our product and bring it to market. Then, I secured a partnership with Best Buy and raised another $120k to fulfill the relationship with Best Buy. Now, I am looking to get interest in the B2B space and raise venture capital in order to build out that revenue model.