Aging is Trending: Here are 10 examples of the range of opportunities!

aging is trending

Aging 2.0 is where it’s at! And while youth must always be served, more companies are waking up to the power of the 75MM baby boomers whose annual economic activity amounts to $7.6 trillion. With the over-55 population projected to increase by 62% from 2010 to 2040 (vs. a 15% increase for 24-55 year olds), everybody is gearing up to jump on this new wave of aging.

Here are 10 recent examples:

1. Nike’s “Iron Nun” TV spot is amazing. Check out 86-year old Sister Madonna Buder’s new “Unlimited Youth” ad where she runs, bikes, and swims.

2. Older women increasingly showing up in fashion and beauty advertising e.g. Sissy Spacek, age 66, for Marc Jacobs (pic upper left above), Grace Coddington for Calvin Klein, Andie MacDowell for L’Oreal’s anti-ageing Revitalift.

3.Evelo: an electric bike company founded by Boris Mordkovich, a 30-year-old serial entrepreneur, who was inspired to develop products for the aging boomer market after he saw his parents using an electric bike that his brother had modified. The company has doubled its revenue to $4 million, and is profitable.

4. Foot care is a huge market. Bruce R. Katz (a founder of Rockport), reinvented himself in 2013 by starting the Samuel Hubbard Shoe Company to sell footwear to boomer men. “As people get older, walking is one of the most important exercises,” said Mr. Katz, a third-generation shoemaker.  The company logged $2 million in revenue in 2015 and expects to reach $12 million this year. (Former President Bill Clinton, who turns 70 this month, wears Samuel Hubbard’s sky blue shoes – see above.)

Read on below for examples 5-10.

5. More Tech Events/Innovation Accelerators focusing on aging e.g. the Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit, or Aging 2.0.

6. Health start-ups are getting funding to address the needs of the 34MM Americans who serve as unpaid caregivers to loved ones 50 years old or older. Examples include Honor, HomeHero ($23M in funding), CareLinx  and Care.com. The latter raised more than $157 million and attracted Google Capital’s attention in June when it invested $46 million (its first ever equity stake in a public company). Another high-profile start up to watch is Envoy, an online “family concierge” service. Now four years old, it’s pulled in $4.2 million from notable early-stage investors who have also backed start-ups like Uber, Instagram and Kickstarter. Envoy is not yet profitable.

7. Banks really like senior living because of the demographics (98MM Americans age 65 and up by 2060). Developers are pivoting from multifamily apartment development to the senior housing space and adding the WOW factor that boomers expect e.g. including movie theaters, fitness centers, salons, pastry chefs, cocktail happy hours.

8.Home downsizing companies are a hot new category e.g. Paper Moon Moves.

9. Meal kits for people with diabetes or heart conditions e.g. from BistroMD and Chef’d.

10. Death doulas, like the childbirth doulas from whom they draw their name, their mandate is to assist and accompany. There’s a growing recognition among hospice workers and palliative-caregivers that pain management is not enough. That the spirit must be attended to as much as the body. And that the soon-to-be-bereaved need help along with the dying. “Our role is to walk alongside [the dying] in their journey,” says Henry Fersko-Weiss, president of the International End of Life Doula Association (INELDA), one of several organizations offering certification in the field.

 

Share this story on: