Alumni Ventures: CareFlick – Himanshu Maharana, PGP 2016

CareFlick is revolutionizing senior care through innovative AgeTech solutions. The founding team combines diverse expertise: Abhishek Mohanty, the founder with a strong background in design and senior care; Himanshu Maharana, an IIM Bangalore alumnus specializing in AI and data science; Chinchu Joseph, an experienced healthcare professional with deep knowledge of senior and dementia care; and Dushyant Arora, a seasoned design leader passionate about user experience. Together, they have built CareFlick to harness the power of AI, creating personalized, efficient, and compassionate solutions that address the unique challenges of senior care. This interview delves into their journey, innovations, and vision for the future of elder care.

Can you tell us about the founding story of CareFlick and the inspiration behind it?

The founding story of CareFlick is rooted in firsthand experiences and a deep understanding of the healthcare sector, specifically in senior care. Abhishek Mohanty previously worked with Epoch Elder Care, a venture capital-backed senior living startup. This experience gave him invaluable insights into senior care’s unique needs and challenges. While working on an app at Epoch Elder Care, Abhishek’s interest in leveraging technology to enhance caregiving was ignited. He realized that caregiving is most effective when personalized to each elder’s situation and condition. Recognizing the potential of AI to personalize care at scale, Abhishek saw an opportunity to create something impactful. To bring this vision to life, Abhishek reached out to Himanshu Maharana, a close friend and former flatmate, who had been working at IBM in the AI-ML space since graduating from IIM Bangalore. They shared the same passion for innovation in caregiving, and Himanshu immediately came on board. Together, they founded CareFlick, a company dedicated to using AI to deliver personalized, effective care solutions for the elderly.

Could you share a bit about the founding team’s backgrounds, including any notable educational or professional experiences?

The founding team of CareFlick brings together a diverse and complementary set of backgrounds, each contributing unique skills and experiences to the mission of enhancing senior care through technology.

• Abhishek Mohanty (Founder & CEO): Abhishek is a creative and user-centric leader with an extensive background in design, marketing & operations. His journey in entrepreneurship began with the founding of a design consulting firm and CraftYouNeed, a D2C brand in the Indian handicrafts space. Being part of the leadership team at Epoch Elder Care, a VC-backed healthcare startup, provided him with deep insights into the healthcare sector and the specific needs of senior care.
• Himanshu Maharana (Co-founder & CTO): Himanshu brings his technical expertise & experience to CareFlick. With over 8 years of experience as a Strategy Consultant specializing in Data Science and Solution Design/Architecture, he has worked across various industries, including healthcare. His role at IBM involved leading AI/ML projects, particularly in NLP and Virtual Assistants. His educational background includes an Electrical Engineering degree from NIT Rourkela and an MBA from IIM Bangalore.
• Chinchu Joseph (Co-founder & Head of Senior Care Program): Chinchu is an experienced healthcare professional with a strong focus on senior and dementia care. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences and is trained in dementia care from Swedish Care International. Her professional journey includes significant roles in leading healthcare organizations in India, such as HCAH India. Before joining CareFlick, she was the Facility Manager of an assisted living home at Epoch Elder Care.
• Dushyant Arora (Co-founder & Chief Design Officer): Dushyant is a people-centric design leader with over 20 years of experience across various industries. He previously served as the Head of UX at MakeMyTrip, India’s largest travel startup, and founded Uxnow.org, a prominent annual UX Design Conference.

What are the core services and solutions that CareFlick offers to support senior care?

At CareFlick, we are dedicated to transforming senior care through innovative AgeTech solutions. Our core services and products are designed to enhance and streamline caregiving, ensuring the best possible support for seniors. Here are the key solutions we offer:

1. Digital Caregivers: Our Digital Caregivers are designed to completely automate specific caregiving workflows, leveraging the power of NVIDIA ACE. These digital solutions help reduce the workload on human caregivers by efficiently handling routine tasks, thereby allowing caregivers to focus more on providing personalized attention to seniors.
2. YANA, AI Co-pilot for Caregiving: YANA is our LLM-powered AI assistant that provides an interactive and human-like experience to guide and support caregivers. It serves as a co-pilot in caregiving, offering insights, answering questions, and helping with decision-making processes, thereby enhancing the overall caregiving experience.
3. Smart Care Tools: Our comprehensive suite of Smart Care Tools includes:

• Medication Management (eMAR) with Pharmacy Integration: Ensures accurate and timely medication administration with seamless integration with pharmacies.
• Electronic Health Records (EHR): Maintains up-to-date and easily accessible health records for residents.
• Log Care & Quality Improvement (QI) Tool: Helps track and improve the quality of care provided.
• Care Calendars for Residents: Organizes and schedules care activities and appointments for residents.
• Task Management for the Team: Facilitates efficient task delegation and tracking among caregiving teams.
• Condition Assessment Tool: Assists in evaluating the health and condition of residents, enabling timely interventions.
• DIY Custom Form Builder: Allows caregivers to create customized forms tailored to specific needs and workflows.

These core services and solutions are designed to support senior care by automating routine tasks, providing intelligent assistance, and offering comprehensive tools to manage and enhance the caregiving process.

How has the recent funding round impacted your plans and goals for CareFlick?

The recent funding round has been a significant milestone for CareFlick, particularly given the challenging funding landscape over the past few years. Despite the broader funding winter, the senior care industry continues to attract investment due to its inevitable challenges and rapid growth. We are thrilled to have onboarded several global investors, including Upekkha AI SaaS Fund, StartupIst Ventures, Nivesha Ventures, as well as Khyaal (India’s leading senior citizen app startup) and several angel investors.

What have been the biggest challenges CareFlick has faced in the elder care industry, and how have you addressed them?

One of the primary challenges has been the dominance of legacy companies in the market. These companies, established in the late 1990s & 2000s, hold substantial market share but have not fully resolved critical issues faced by caregivers, such as:

• Ensuring proper training and knowledge transfer among caregiving staff.
• Managing caregiver burnout and stress.
• Delivering consistent quality of care.
• Capturing and maintaining patient data accurately.
• Addressing the high turnover rate of caregivers.

Our strategy involved observing caregivers in various settings to deeply understand their day-to-day responsibilities and challenges, through which we identified key pain points and developed agile solutions that challenge the status quo. Our innovative approach includes:

1. Enhanced training and knowledge transfer through an AI co-pilot
2. Prediction and management of burnout and stress
3. Consistent quality of Care through a range of smart care tools
4. Efficient data management, analytics & recommendations
5. Addressing high turnover rates by providing better support, training, and stress management tools, as well as digital caregivers that automate specific caregiving workflows.

Our focus on disruptive innovation rather than incremental changes has allowed us to tackle these challenges effectively. By continuously engaging with caregivers and understanding their needs, we are able to provide long-term, sustainable solutions that not only address current issues but also pave the way for future advancements in the senior care industry.

How does CareFlick utilize AI in its caregiving solutions, and what are the main benefits for users?

At CareFlick, we believe in pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, and our vision is to transform caregiving by integrating the revolutionary power of AI to make it more personal, efficient, and optimized.

• Personalized Care: AI allows us to tailor care to each elder’s unique situation and condition. By leveraging techniques like Large Language Models, Machine Learning, and Recommendation Engines, we identify activities and therapies for elders. These recommendations are also vetted by clinical experts. This ensures that every individual receives care that is not only effective but profoundly personal.
• Efficiency and Reduced Workload: Using LLMs, Speech-to-Text, Text-to-Speech, Digital Humans, and automating routine tasks, AI significantly reduces the workload for human caregivers. We have trained various deep-learning models to understand emotions from video, speech, and language, and to extract information and insights.
• Improved Decision-Making: Our AI/ML-powered tools provide caregivers with invaluable insights, enabling better-informed decisions and elevating

CareFlick, co-founded by Himanshu Maharana, Abhishek Mohanty, Chinchu Joseph, and Dushyant Arora, is transforming the landscape of elder care through cutting-edge technology and AI-driven solutions. Their dedication to personalizing caregiving not only addresses critical challenges in the industry but also enhances the overall quality of life for seniors. By focusing on innovative approaches, CareFlick sets a new standard for senior care. Learn more about their impactful work at CareFlick.