A 2013 report issued by the Pew Research Institute found that 39 percent of American households provide care to a family member, with the average caregiver falling within the ages of 45 to 64.
A study released by AARP in 2013 forecasts a dramatic decline in the availability of family caregivers. While the number of Americans over 80 is projected to increase by 79 percent between 2010 and 2030, the demographic of people between the ages of 45-64 will increase by only 1 percent. This highlights a rapidly growing need for elder care with virtually no growth in supply from the primary caregiver source.
To fill this gap, Ven Vadlamani and Murali Kota created HumanLink, a startup that aims to connect high-quality caregivers with clients throughout the US. There are a few core components that differentiate HumanLink’s web and mobile elder care community from the competition.
Raising Industry Standards
First, HumanLink seeks to raise industry standards with required background checks and ensuring caregivers have the highest standard of testing and certification. Additionally, HumanLink plans to create a caregiver recommendation engine to track professionalism and service standards.
Improving Qualifications
HumanLink also helps caregivers not only showcase their credentials, but improve them. They partner with leading curriculum providers to enable distance learning that brings caregivers even in remote areas to the highest industry educational standards.
Increasing Value
HumanLink points out that typical staffing agencies take 50% of the fee families pay caregivers. Contrastingly, HumanLink charges only a 15% transaction fee, split between the client and the caregiver. By providing several value-added services including educational resources and insurance, the company hopes to disrupt the industry with a phenomenal value proposition for clients and caregivers. If they succeed, the company will be well positioned to capitalize on macro shifts that will cause market demand for caregivers to grow exponentially.
HumanLink is set to launch in Spring of 2015 but prospective caregivers and clients can sign up now to ensure they have access as soon as the community launches.
HumanLink is backed by The ARK Investment Fund and plans to raise additional financing in 2015.