NIA Small Business Showcase: Olera
Approximately 20% of Americans provide unpaid care to someone in their family, a process that can be mentally, financially, and emotionally challenging. Family caregivers struggle to find guidance, resources, and professionals due to the fragmented eldercare ecosystem. We aim to alleviate this burden with Olera, a digital platform that (1) connects family caregivers with eldercare professionals, and (2) offers support throughout their senior care journey.
Olera is a digital platform that connects family caregivers of elders in need of long-term care to eldercare professionals and serves as a support system for families through their senior care journey.
Olera operates in a two-sided market that consists of caregivers (end-users) and senior care service providers (customers). Senior care service providers include home care services, senior communities, adult daycares, and other social assistance organizations. The Total Addressable Market (TAM) is $425 Billion, and our initial beachhead market is roughly $150 million, which represents the senior living market in Texas.
We go beyond senior living: Olera serves as a one-stop shop for senior care. Most competitors, simply connect families to senior living facilities or other singular sectors in the senior care ecosystem. Olera on the other hand, covers various critical sectors within senior care such as care coordination, legal assistance, caregiver support, and financial support.
Personalization using AI: Through the use of artificial intelligence and our proprietary personalization algorithm, we provide tailored recommendations for care guidance, enabling users to better navigate through their senior care journey.
Robust privacy features: Current platforms often lead to unsolicited contact when sharing user information. Olera ensures caregivers' control over their relationship with care providers, allowing them to share their personal information only when desired.
Company Milestones
Scientific and Clinical
- 2021: Created a repository database that includes information on over 22,000 professional service providers and 58 original educational pieces (articles and videos)
- 2022: Conducted customer discovery with over 100 stakeholders in the senior care ecosystem as part of the NIH I-Corps program
- 2022: Pilot Test with a group of 50 family caregivers in Houston, Texas, and achieved a score of 4.57 out of 5 on the modified ‘Mobile Application Rating Scale’, an assessment tool used to evaluate the quality of digital health applications
- 2022: Presented findings of our research study at the following conferences: The Public Health Opportunities and Challenges of Dementia Caregiving Conference, the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP) Conference, the Presentation at the Texas Alzheimer’s Research and Care Consortium (TARCC)
- 2023 - 2024: Evaluate the usefulness and ease of use of the Olera platform among Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, and non-Hispanic Whites cohorts
Business
- 2020: Olera wins the Blackstone LaunchPad Fellowship Grant, including a $5,000 cash prize and a membership to the Future Founders and Blackstone LaunchPad network
- 2021: Co-Founder & CEO TJ Falohun receives the Texas Business Hall of Fame Innovative Leader Award
- 2021: Olera is featured in KBTX (local TV Station)
- 2022: Olera is featured in Mays Master Cast, the flagship podcast of Mays Business School at Texas A&M University
- 2022: Beta test conducted among families looking for care in Houston, Texas
- 2022: Olera begins to generate revenue by providing business services to senior care providers
- 2023: Beta test conducted among families looking for care in Texas (state-wide)
- Olera is experiencing an impressive 30% monthly growth rate, rapidly expanding its reach among families seeking senior care services.
- 2023 – 2024: Beta test among families looking for care nation-wide
- 2024: Olera aims to secure a Series A funding round to fuel further growth and development
Financial Overview
Olera has raised we have raised $2.4M from various grants, pitch competitions, incubators, and awards.Olera aims to raise $10M in a Series A funding round at a 50M post-money valuation in early 2024. Olera is seeking to raise $10M in a Series A funding round at a 50M post-money valuation in early 2024 to conduct the following activities:Technology and Platform Development, Operating Expenses, marketing and growth, and legal and regulatory costs.
Intellectual Property
Olera is actively exploring the prospect of filing for a utility patent to protect our Senior Care Personalization Algorithm (deep learning-enabled self-improving algorithm). Olera, Inc. owns the copyright to educational content and learning materials and the Olera brand is also trademark protected.
Product Development and Regulatory Strategy
We are incredibly excited to embark on the next phase of our product roadmap, which focuses on incorporating artificial intelligence to efficiently match family caregivers with appropriate senior care services. This system will utilize deep learning from thousands of structured data points, preferences, and trends related to families' most valued services. This will allow better-personalized recommendations and will enhance the quality of those suggestions over time. We aim to design, develop, and assess a prototype of this AI-powered matching algorithm before integrating it into our existing platform.
Furthermore, we are examining the utility and user-friendliness of the Olera platform across diverse ethnic and socioeconomic groups. This evaluation will enable us to refine the platform, ensuring its accessibility and suitability for families from various backgrounds.
Commercialization Strategy
We generate revenue by offering digital marketing services that help senior care providers expand their businesses and connect with more clients, a model similar to platforms like Yelp and Airbnb. With the median annual cost of a private room in a nursing home reaching an astounding $102,000, the senior care industry's high customer lifetime value incentivizes providers, such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities, to invest significantly in customer acquisition and digital growth strategies.
Additionally, we plan to diversify our revenue streams through affiliate marketing of eldercare products and by featuring sponsored provider listings on our platform.
Company Details
Houston, TX
Industry: Digital Health Technology
Management Team:
- CEO: TJ Falohun
- COO: Logan DuBose
- Interim CTO: Jesse Phipps
Point of Contact:
TJ Falohun
Email TJ Falohun
(410) 790-7596