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Well-being among older adults is a high priority for nearly everyone, from the World Health Organization (WHO) to local community leaders. However, several years into the United Nations’ Decade on Healthy Ageing (2021–2030), there is no alignment on a universal method to measure well-being. Without a standard baseline and longitudinal data, wide-scale improvement for individuals and populations will remain a challenge. Worse, investment in the belief that human beings have a fundamental right to well-being suffers without data to guide where to plug in gaps across groups, regions, and borders. The uneven application of policy and funding leads to unequal opportunities for older adults to flourish.
BetterAge has a long-term “community health” approach to older adult well-being. The company partners with community organizations that support older adults and are trusted by them. Together, BetterAge and community organizations are developing a digital assessment and personalized recommendation platform tailored to older adults. It combines an evidence-based assessment with expert-driven questions about barriers and challenges and provides older adults with not only a customized report based on their responses but also expert-vetted guidance based on positive psychology principles. BetterAge encourages older adults to reconnect with partners and with peers to participate in programs and services offered in their own communities.
BetterAge’s platform makes it easier for organizations to:
- Measure and improve health and well-being of older adults and their caregivers—particularly to screen for social determinants of health
- Reach and serve more older adults at greater scale by providing online personalized, evidence-based guidance
- Generate new data and insights to identify and address health disparities, inform interventions, and more effectively advocate for funding
- Develop an integrated community health approach to improve population-level health outcomes
Company Milestones
Scientific and Clinical
- 2023: Awarded a $2.5 million NIA SBIR grant to develop an innovative web-based service platform to assess older adult well-being, obtain evidence-based recommendations, and receive support to take action
- 2024 (anticipated): Publish a paper on the impact of older adults’ willingness to ask for help with their overall well-being
- 2025 (anticipated): Complete a pilot test of an NIA-funded prototype
Business
- 2020: Developed a COVID-19 checkup product during the early stages of the pandemic, supporting more than 75,000 older adults in their pursuit of objective information about their pandemic-related benefits
- 2022: Awarded a contract by the New York State Office for the Aging
- 2022: Awarded a contract by the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services
- 2023: Launched Age Well Innovation Network—which consists of innovative aging services leaders, academics, and researchers—to co-design the initial product and provide continuous improvement
- 2024: Launched a proof-of-concept product to measure a standardized set of health and well-being dimensions in older adults and provide curated information
- 2024: Selected as a Finalist in the Silver Economy category for the 7th Annual Fundación MAPFRE Social Innovation Awards
- 2024–2025: Focus on product development, revenue generation and commercialization, and publication of insights to demonstrate value of data collection
- 2024–2025: Raise a pre-seed round of funding
Financial Overview
BetterAge has received $2.5 million from NIH and $835,000 from private sources. It is currently preparing to open a pre-seed round of funding.
Intellectual Property (IP)
BetterAge protects its IP through trade secrets and copyright.
Product Development and Regulatory Strategy
BetterAge product development emphasizes an empathy-first, hyper-personalized design approach for end users who are older adults. The digital platform does not yet require U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulatory approval.
Commercialization Strategy
BetterAge currently generates annual recurring revenue from aging services organizations, based on its initial proof of concept, with a steadily growing base of commitments. In 2025, BetterAge will commercialize its NIA-funded prototype, where strong growth is expected among a broader set of organizations that serve older adults.
Company Details
Sunnyside, New York
Industry: Digital Health and Sensing Technologies
Management Team:
- Diana Yin, M.P.P., M.B.A., Chief Executive Officer and Founder
- James Firman, M.B.A., Ed.D., Chief Innovation Officer and Founder
- Stephen Engels, M.S., Chief Technology Officer
Point of Contact:
Diana Yin
diana.yin@betterage.net
888-556-2236