Singapore-based Homage has landed $1.2 million in a seed round from venture capital firms namely Golden Gate Ventures, 500 Startups, and SeedPlus.
The startup, brainchild of Y-Combinator Alumni Gillian Tee, Lily Phang, and Tong Duong, aims to “fundamentally” change home-based caregiving for the elderly. The team got particularly motivated to work on this concept when they witnessed a dire need for high-quality in-home care for the elderly. Gillian Tee, Co-founder, and CEO of Homage says,
Nowhere is shortage of quality caregiving more acute than in Singapore and Asia, where many families struggle to find in-home solutions they can trust. The process is time-consuming, costly, and most of all, deeply stressful.
Gillian further states with the smart technology that powers the platform, they are getting closer to their goal of confronting the hurdle of getting the right caregivers for the elderly. Their objective is to make the process quick, effective and affordable.
Homage will invest the capital to fuel product development and scale operations to fulfill the rising local demand.
Launched in 2016, the firm had secured funds in a previous angel round and counts Huang Shao-Ning and Lim Dershing, co-founders of local career portal JobsCentral, Pieter Walraven, former founder of work chat app Pie, Phey Teck Moh, former President of Motorola Solutions, Asia Pacific and Juha Panaanen, former founder of Non-stop games as its earliest investors.
The platform also serves as an enabler for micro-entrepreneurship, as it offers specialized training for both aspiring and experienced care professionals. The professionals are then hand-picked to work and provide services through Homage.
This way, the founding team, believes they will be contributing their bit in creating opportunities for individuals who are looking for a rewarding career with a flexible work schedule. Vinnie Lauria, the Managing Partner, Golden Gate Ventures, says,
We’re continually impressed by Gillian and the founding team at Homage, having watched them take Homage from concept to reality. Their vision to solve the problems in the in-home caregiving sector from all points of the value chain is as ambitious as it is revolutionary, and we believe that these are the people to get it right.
The company claims to have delivered more than 10,000 hours of caregiving services.
