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Melbourne-headquartered aged care support tech startup Umps Health has successfully raised $4 million in a Series A round with half the funds coming from Breakthrough Victoria, with InterValley Ventures also joining the share register amid follow-on backing from the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, the 5Point Foundation, Sprint Ventures and Agnes Health.
The company's smart home platform Umps Link utilises wearables, sensors and artificial intelligence (AI) to generate real-time insights about declines in health and wellbeing, and has the ability when needed to connect users with a 24/7 emergency response centre or family caregivers.
Launched in 2023, Umps Link now supports thousands of households across Australia and is the result of six years of research and development at the company, founded by Adam Jahnke and Geoff Ayre.
The hospitalisation of Jahnke's grandpa, known as "Umps" in his family, was the impetus to start the company after the co-founder saw the existing technologies on the market for home care.
"In 2017, he was hospitalised after a fall. Thankfully, there were no major injuries, but when he returned home we were told that he should consider moving into permanent aged care," Jahnke, the Umps Health CEO, says on the company's website.
"At 90 years old, my grandpa was determined to stay in the home he'd lived in for over 60 years. And we were just as determined to help him do so.
"We soon discovered that existing personal alarms weren't suitable for him. They were bulky, heavy and made him feel vulnerable. This drove us to create something better. We wanted a solution that would work for him and for other older adults who value their independence."
The technology allows for earlier and proactive support at home, which is critical given forecasts that by 2030 there will be a shortage of more than 100,000 aged care workers in Australia.
Umps aims to alleviate this shortage in the face of increased demand for care by augmenting existing aged care workers with technology.
Designed in collaboration with Victoria’s largest aged care providers, Umps’ products are already offered across Australia under the Home Care Package Program, Commonwealth Home Support Program and National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) – programs that support more than 1.5 million Australians.
"Our team is driven by one goal: enabling more proactive care at home. Our underpinning belief is that enabling more timely, person-centred care at home is the biggest opportunity we have to reduce demand on an already stretched care system and enable better health outcomes for older adults," Jahnke explains.
"Every year, there are more than 500,000 hospitalisations that could have been prevented if older adults received care earlier. These health incidents are often a catalyst for a loss of independence."
He says AI has the potential to address this by enabling proactive care at scaling, alleviating pressure on an already stretched system while improving the health and wellbeing of older adults.
"We’re pleased to welcome both Breakthrough Victoria and InterValley Ventures as shareholders of Umps," Jahnke says.
"The capital raised will allow us to accelerate our market reach within Australia and scale Umps’ technology to support tens of thousands of Australians."
The latest investment in Umps will accelerate ongoing research, development and commercialisation of the technology, which is expected to create up to 40 jobs over the next two years.
"The health benefits that Umps’ innovative technology generates are multifold – across families, society, the aged care sector and to the wider economy," says Breakthrough Victoria acting CEO Lauren Morrey.
"Every person gets another option at ageing with dignity; this is why Breakthrough Victoria is investing in Umps Health.
"By supporting startups to develop, trial and manufacture medical technology in Victoria, we can ensure these life-saving technologies benefit and prioritise local patients, increase jobs and investments in the state."
Victoria's acting Minister for Economic Growth, Danny Pearson, says the investment will provide more options to maintain healthy independent lifestyles for older Victorians and help reduce the physical workload of care workers.
"Victoria is the best place in the country to start and grow a business and we are backing innovative companies like Umps to create good local services, good jobs and to grow our economy in the long term," Pearson says.
Records lodged with the corporate regulator show Umps Health has raised approximately $7.4 million in total.
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