Experts estimate that by 2040, one in five Americans will have 65 years or more, compared to one in 2000 in 2000.
Despite the population that quickly ages from the country, digital health solutions that serve the elderly, a category of Berherred for AGETCH, are still in their early years.
Previously, this panel discussion at Medicarians 2025 in Las Vegas, Medcity news The Chief Editor Arundhati Parmar explored the status of AGETCH risk capital with three investors. The panelists agreed that despite the growing clear opportunities, the AGETCH market currently lacks dedicated financing, proven commercial models and the main success stories necessary to take off.
The Medicarians Conference is a Senior Health and Agtech event to connect digital health companies, investors and other industry leaders.
Where is AGETCH financing?
(0:15 – 5:19)
The investment activity in the AGETECH space is still incipient, said Ray Jang, director of Primetime Partners, a risk company dedicated to aging related technology. He pointed out that there are few funds exclusive to this technology, despite the growing population of older people in the country.
Hey, also noticed that it is a disconnection between product designers and end users. Many digital health solutions are built through a type of “Silicon Valley entrepreneur” in its 20 or 30 years, Jang said. People at this stage of their life tend to have different significant perceptions of how usability is seen compared to people of 60 or 70 years.
Both Jang and his partner panelist Max Zamkow agreed that there should be more investment in digital health solutions related to aging. Zamkow is a managing partner at Third Act Ventures, another risk fund dedicated to AGETECH. With him and Jang on stage for the panel, Zamkow joked saying that approximately half or those companies were represented.
Zamkow also highlighted the fact that most AGETCH developers have a very different relationship with the technology than their end users. He cited the elderly groups about independence and also monitored bees as a barrier.
“There are also some interesting dynamics about aging and not wanting
Another panelist, Robert Garber, managing partner of 7Wireventures, said that the aging population is not a monolith.
AGETECH is one of the four investment areas of your risk company, together with the health of behavior, chronic diseases and unattended populations.
“Someone who is relatively young and healthy at age 65, who lives an active lifestyle, looks very different from some who are 85 years old with five chronic conditions, who fight with activities of Daily Live. We need solutions to address.
Are there investments for AI Companion Technologies to combat senior loneliness?
(6:32 – 13:42, 16:52 – 23:30)
Zamkow invested in a company called Care.coach. Its complementary solution of AI provides support and virtual company 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for older adults to empower independent life and relieve feelings of loneliness.
He said that there are other complementary technologies of AI that begin to arise that they pursue the same problems, but the industry is still waiting for success stories.
Zamkow also pointed out that the entrance barrier for AI Companions is now very low, with many developers who depend on platforms such as Openi.
Because many complementary technologies are so similar and not deeply owners, investors have difficulty identifying sustainable competitive advantages, he explained.
In addition, Jang said that one of his portfolio companies offers AI partners for older adults as part of his platform.
“How we’ve see it used well is when’s used as part of a solution that dos still encapsulate human connection – Because that’s submiss OF AThats Olders Tatt Lawps Or Olders Tatt We Date Tatt We Date Tats Older Tatt We Date Thats Tatt We Date Tatt We Date Tatt Wee Tatt We Date Tatt Wee Tatt Wee Tatstout Wee Thats Tatt Oldersy.
In general terms, Jang sees AI as “more a tool for completing tasks” than an independent product when it comes to health use cases.
Do NIH fund cuts give investors a pause?
(13:43 – 16:52)
The Trump administration recently canceled billions of dollars in funds for national health institutes, a movement that experts say they damage the country’s reputation as a world leader in health and technology. While it will take months or years for the real impact of the cuts to materialize completely, this reduction in financing will probably have an advertisement on innovation in the AGETECH space, Garber said.
Hi, he also pointed out that investor confidence is decreasing as results of these fund cuts.
“Uncertainty creates paralysis. There is a lot Creation, for what he tries, for what makes them understand, that creation, for what he tries, for what they find.
Jang also declared that the cuts are worrisome, noting that NIH financing is critical for new AGETCH companies in the early stage.
Beyond the loss of funds, there is also the risk that new companies deviate from the same academic and medical rigor that we expect from the NIH and its path, “he said.
In a more optimistic note, Jang said that the financing gap could push entrepreneurs to address existing and well known problems in aging care instead of pursuing completely new innovations.
“There [are] Actually, many problems in this space, and in reality I do not think you need to necessarily build something completely new to create significant differences in our health system, “he said.
What are the opportunities and dangers when innovation in the AGETCH market?
(23:53 – 29:03)
Since older adults are the fastest growing part of the country’s population, the investment opportunity is huge for AGETECh, said Garber.
“I think we have a commercial and moral imperative to innovate continuously,” he said.
He added that longevity technology has also become a separate invertible category, but said he believes we will see that he begins to combine with Agtech, since medical care leaders think more about HealthSpan versus Lifespan.
Garber also pointed out that there are still challenges about business payments and models.
“I don’t say most of the consumer’s direct [AgeTech] Companies have a lot of power of permanence. In all, most of them have resorted to a B2B approach at some point. So I think we have to keep thinking about who is paying and what is the problem we are solving, and what are the ROI of the hard dollar we can measure? Hey said.
Investors look for ways to do well doing good, but that only works if capital flows are there, Garber said.
Creating new capital currents in medical care is incredible, so companies must take advantage of existing ones. It is difficult to predict where these flows will come: government financing can be reduced and consumers are not likely to collect the slack, Garber said.
“There is greater incumbency in the private sector to invent some of that deficit. And then we have the nuance of some of this is federal and some of this is the State. It simply depends that you are in the ecosystem, and the complexities are.”
In Zamkow’s opinion, the changes in reimbursement are those that hinder risk capitalists invest in AGETCH companies.
When a business model could disappear in a couple of years, it is difficult for new companies to build something sustainable, he said.
“A couple of years ago, everyone was trying to go and create supplementary benefits, and then the readjustment of the star rating simply crushed all that,” Zamkow said.
In a brighter note, Jang pointed out that there are many ways in which AI can improve Medicar.
Compared to commercial insurance, Medicare is much more regulated, from how insurance is sold to paperwork after a visit, he said.
“There is a lot of forms, and if you talk to a doctor or a supplier, nobody likes to trace or no one likes to complete forms. We are really seeing many large changes, both from the perspective of the health plan and from the calling returns of the supplier’s perspective or automating the subsequent forms to discharge,” Jang said.
There is also the potential in the use of AI to create personalized care plans based on the unique history of a patient, instead of a unique approach for all, he added.
How can the AGETECH industry attract more capital of conventional investors?
(29:03 – 32:32)
The AGETECH industry needs great visible victories, such as successful public departures, to demonstrate conventional investors that it is a viable and high -performance market, not just a niche for capital companies focused on the impact, Garber said.
Success attracts capital, and the lack of liquidity and exits in recent years has made it difficult for new AGETCH companies to generate impulse and attract diversified investors, he said.
He pointed out that “increasedism” is what scares him most in his work, emphasizing the importance of addressing big and significant problems in medical care instead of complying with incremental progress.
“When we look at things, that’s really the biggest.
Photo: Medicarian