NIA Small Business Showcase: LifeBio
Older adults may lose the ability to share their life stories and background, affecting them negatively and making it more difficult for care providers to know them and offer comfort. Loneliness, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease are common problems facing older adults.
LifeBio Memory is a life story application that captures a person’s voice as they tell their stories, with precise, vetted questions and photo prompts guiding the experience. The app’s artificial intelligence (AI) engine then translates voice into text and auto-summarizes the information to create short summaries that can be used in direct care delivery. LifeBio has created a new form of personalized social engagement; every single person has a story to tell.
There are 55 million Americans age 65 or older (and 600 million people worldwide), representing a market that is expected to grow to 78 million people in the United States by 2035. With LifeBio Memory and other related age tech solutions, LifeBio is addressing a $5 billion market in the United States alone.
LifeBio Memory is the first research-based life story app leveraging the power of the human voice and AI. The company is capturing life stories for better health. The app emerges from the foundation of LifeBio’s years of life story work and reminiscence therapy in senior living, hospices, home care, hospitals, and health plans. LifeBio’s proprietary way of asking the right questions in the right way, technology and trade secrets related to how the app builds the stories through AI behind the scenes, and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliance are all assets. LifeBio’s talented tech team, focus groups, dementia consultants, educators, and multiple research partners play a role in this evidence-informed solution.
Company Milestones
Scientific and Clinical
- 2019: Youngstown State University found that LifeBio increased the efficiency and effectiveness of care staff in a memory care unit.
- 2019: A study funded by the Ohio Department of Medicaid, conducted by Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging and published in 2021, finds that LifeBio reduces depressive symptoms in nursing home settings.
- 2021: UnitedHealthcare’s Optum Insights team, finding that LifeBio reduces loneliness, presents data at the Gerontological Society of America.
- 2022: A clinical trial with Benjamin Rose Institute measuring the impact of LifeBio Memory, especially between care staff and residents in nursing homes and assisted living, is underway.
- 2023: Results of the 2022 clinical trial are expected to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.
- 2023: LifeBio is seeking more research partners to track other health outcomes or use of LifeBio Memory with veterans, other studies of people living with dementia at home, etc.
Business
- 2019: LifeBio serves clients in senior living, nursing homes, health plans, hospitals, home care, and hospices, with more than 100 business-to-business clients in the United States and Canada.
- 2020: The company is awarded a Direct-to-Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for LifeBio Memory; the app is completed on schedule and launched at LeadingAge in October 2021.
- 2020: MyHello launches and serves mental health agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic; expansion in health plans continues.
- 2021: The company receives a Phase I SBIR grant for LifeBioALZ (LifeBio Brain), a prototype to assist clinicians in screening for mild cognitive impairment or early-stage dementia; Brown University will coordinate testing of the app with patients in 2022.
- 2022: LifeBio uses new LifeBio Memory app to fulfill life story work for California and Washington state with CMP grants and applies for more.
- 2023: LifeBio Memory will be sold into more chains of senior living communities and home care agencies and through area agencies on aging; it also may be used in more hospice and hospital settings.
Financial Overview
LifeBio has raised $80,000 in angel funding and also has $100,000 from the founders’ investment and nearly $3 million in SBIR grant funding. The company is seeking $2 million in funding to support sales, marketing, and technology personnel. Investors need to be interested in age tech and solutions addressing loneliness and Alzheimer’s disease for a large and growing demographic.
Intellectual Property
LifeBio is trademarked. LifeBio has proprietary software interfaces and trade secrets related to the use of AI for processing recordings and making Life Story Books and summaries. LifeBio’s content inside LifeBio Memory and LifeBio.com is copyrighted, as is MyHello. LifeBio also has trade secrets in how senior living or other clients who use the software are trained.
Product Development and Regulatory Strategy
LifeBio has STORY and personalized social engagement at the core of its projects. LifeBio Memory is a digital therapeutic, and the company hopes that it is possible to prescribe software-based interventions more easily for patients with Alzheimer’s disease. This year, bipartisan legislation to expand Medicare coverage to include prescription digital therapeutics, the Access to Prescription Digital Therapeutics Act of 2022, was introduced in Congress. LifeBio wants to be part of a holistic healthy aging plan, “social prescriptions,” in which doctors refer patients to community resources that support overall well-being.
Commercialization Strategy
LifeBio’s commercialization strategy is to target senior living, home care, hospices, health plans, and hospitals in the coming year. To spread the word, the company attends a number of events, including those hosted by LeadingAge, USAging, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, and the American Society on Aging, as well as the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference. LifeBio’s database has 10,000 prospects to contact, and the company is adding to its sales and marketing staff. Group purchasing organization partners, such as Care Purchasing Services and Direct Supply, will be another focus. LifeBio is streamlining the sales process, delivery, and onboarding of new clients and maintaining current clients.
Company Details
Marysville, OH
Industry: Digital Health
Management Team:
- Chief Executive Officer, Marketing: Beth Sanders
- Chief Technology Officer: Jeff Sanders
- Grants Team Director: Becky Williams
- Story Team Director: Tricia Cossette
- Director of Business Accountability and Client Experience: Saskia Johantges
Point of Contact:
Beth Sanders
bsanders@lifebio.com
(937) 303-4574