Honor: Creating an Advanced Home Care Network

Honor is addressing the fragmented elder care market with a nationwide network of providers.

elderly man and women sitting down with a nurse posing for a photo
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Senior care is a massive, fragmented market with widespread inefficiencies. While many seniors prefer to live at home as long as possible, this can burden family members to find affordable care that fits their specific needs. Meanwhile, home care agencies frequently struggle to maintain a staff capable of meeting demand. 

Honor, an Alumni Ventures Group portfolio company, is a software and services company using AI to improve in-home senior care. The company’s mission is to provide high-quality, non-medical home care for the increasing market of older adults, while also supporting home care agencies with a robust network of resources.

Improving Access and Quality of Care

There are estimated to be over 20,000 elder care agencies throughout the U.S. These tend to be small businesses with thin margins and difficulty affording resources for dedicated legal services, back-office operations, technology, and human resources to support their staff. With high burnout rate, low pay, and unpredictable hours, agencies often struggle with significant employee turnover, which can lead to scheduling issues with clients, among other things.

Honor is addressing this gap in the market, using technology to improve the efficiency and quality of home care. The company has created the Honor Care Network, which provides digital technology, back-office services, accountability protocols, and staffing support to home care agencies, allowing them to focus on providing better care and customer engagement.

By addressing the pain points of agencies and care providers, Honor is ensuring that an increasing population of older adults will receive higher-quality home care. In turn, Honor is building partnerships across the country, establishing a national care network and reducing fragmentation in the market.

Further, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Honor has instituted new safety protocols to ensure the safety of clients and caregivers. This includes pre-visit temperature and wellness checks, expanded PPE requirements, and ongoing training for providers.

Accomplished Entrepreneurs and Blue Chip Investors

Honor is led by a proven management team capable of tackling a massive market need. Co-Founders Seth Sternberg and Sandy Jen previously launched Meebo, an instant messaging and social networking service acquired by Google in 2012, while Co-Founder Cameron Ring sold his online address book Plaxo to Comcast in 2008.

Honor has also attracted the support of blue chip investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, 8VC, and Thrive Capital. Marc Andreessen himself led the company’s $20 million Series A in 2015 and serves on the Board of Directors.

Alumni Ventures Group secured a spot in Honor’s recent round through its fund for the Yale community, Blue Ivy Ventures. After establishing an early relationship with Honor and following the company’s growth, Blue Ivy reached out to reconnect with Sternberg, who earned his undergraduate degree from Yale. AVG’s core funds frequently leverage alumni networks to access deals and build relationships with entrepreneurs and established VCs, which provides a unique, robust deal pipeline for our investors.

Blue Ivy sponsored AVG’s investment in a $50 million Series C led by Naspers, with additional participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, and 8VC. Other invested AVG funds included Chestnut Street Ventures (for the Penn community), Castor Ventures (for the MIT community), Purple Arch Ventures (for the Northwestern community), Triphammer Ventures (for the Cornell community), Waterman Ventures (for the Brown community), The Yard Ventures (for the Harvard community), and AVG’s Total Access Fund.

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Contact [email protected] for additional information. To see additional risk factors and investment considerations, visit av-funds.com/disclosures.