newswire: 8/12/2020
- A new V.C. firm, Primetime Partners, focuses on the fast-growing world of startups offering products and services for aging Boomers. The firm was co-founded by an 85-year-old veteran investor who wants to inspire other older entrepreneurs. (The Wall Street Journal)
- NH: Alan Patricof, the octogenarian co-founder of Primetime Partners, has been in the V.C. business since the 1970s and was an early investor in big names like AOL and Apple. He founded his last V.C. firm--which funded online and mobile startups--in 2006, when he was 72 years old. Patricof could have retired then, but he had an idea for “a third act”: a new firm that invests in non-pharmaceutical products and services for older people.
- He’s right to see big opportunities in the “silver economy”: the massive pool of aging Boomers (and Silent) with considerable spending power. (See “The Graying of Wealth…in One Picture” and “The Graying of Wealth.”) Out of all the living generations, Boomers shell out the most money each year ($548.1 billion), with Xers a distant second. The sheer numbers and accumulated wealth of those in their 60s and 70s should make them a prime target for new businesses addressing the myriad challenges of aging. They’re tech-savvier than previous generations: 68% of 55- to 73-year-olds have a smartphone, and 59% use social media. AARP has released study after study about older Americans’ spending power. Yet as recently as 2018, startups aimed at the 65+ attracted only about 0.7% of V.C. dollars.
- There’s long been a disconnect between older Americans’ buying power and the amount of attention they get from marketers and investors. But now this is starting to change.
- Primetime Partners’s first round of funding raised $32 million. The companies it’s decided to invest in so far are a mix of online and offline services. They include a financial services startup for lower-income retirees; a social-networking site aimed at retirees aging alone; and a company that offers telemedicine services to nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
- In addition to focusing on older consumers, the firm hopes to promote senior entrepreneurs--another group that doesn’t get much attention despite the fact that older age brackets are increasingly generating new start ups. If you’re one of those workaholic Boomers for whom “retirement” means “time to launch my dream company,” here’s your chance. See "What Will It Take To Reinvigorate US Entrepreneurship?"
