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Europe’s population is rapidly ageing. The World Health Organisation projects that there will be 247 million Europeans aged 60 and older by the end of this decade and 300 million by midcentury. The number of Europeans aged 80 and over is also expected to double by 2050.
Europe’s so-called silver tsunami is already placing additional demands on care providers, whether in care homes, municipal caregivers visiting the homes of the elderly, or family members trying to take care of an ageing relative. The tools used to monitor those who require care can be fragmented and, at times, primitive, ranging from Excel files to clipboard checklists.
One Estonian healthtech startup is attempting to address these challenges. ELDYcare, founded in January 2024, is based in Tallinn and has since launched an operating system for care service providers, with software solutions available for general and home care providers. With its platform, providers can manage care recipients, including their care plans, activities, agendas, and treatment plans, and coordinate and document a digital daily schedule.
“We are providing a platform that service providers can use to manage their clients,” says CEO Liisbet Omer. “It’s like a hotel operating system for care providers.”
Omer has a decade of experience in healthtech. A graduate of Tallinn University of Technology, she has worked in IT for social campaigns, the government, and e-commerce platforms. She has also been a product manager at Processa Technologies, a Tallinn-based company that offers software and AI development, consulting, and design. ELDYcare is a spinout of Processa, and Processa serves as its main development partner.
ELDYcare, built on the industry-leading Siemens Mendix platform, can be accessed globally via the Mendix Marketplace.
“This offers us a very modular development,” says Omer.
Since Omer established ELDYcare last year with cofounder Marius Arras, now head of business development at the firm, it has successfully launched its software application for general care providers, such as personnel in long-term care facilities. Currently, about 20 care or nursing homes in Estonia manage their everyday activities on the platform, which adds up to about 400 users, such as caretakers and managers, overseeing 1,600 clients using ELDYcare.
A new solution has been created for home care providers, such as healthcare workers who are sent to manage the elderly within municipalities. As Omer notes, there are 79 municipalities offering home care in Estonia, and each has its own management systems and methods. Data is also often fragmented and sits in silos, which means that information held by general practitioners or collected during hospital visits is not automatically shared with care providers.
ELDYcare believes that this data should be collected via its standardised, secure platform and accessible throughout the country. “We should put the pieces together,” Omer remarked.
To achieve that, ELDYcare recently embarked on a project with the support of the European Social Fund and the Estonian government. The first phase of the project, entitled “Analysis and Development of the Municipal Social Services Management Platform Care Compass” commenced in August and will run through September 2026. It has a total budget of €594,394.
As part of the Care Compass project, ELDYcare will work with several municipalities in Estonia to develop a municipal social services management platform, including a digital social services assessment tool. They aim to showcase through the use of the platform an improved situation for caregivers, better quality of home care services, and to improve overall satisfaction with municipal services in Estonia.
Ideally, says Omer, the elderly and other people in need of care would stay within their homes for as long as possible, before being moved to an environment where they require fulltime care. Because of this, if the project is a success, home care could become a large market opportunity.
“We really want to shake that area up,” Omer says. “Local municipalities are still working with Excel files. We want to give them proper tools, so that they would have a centralised system.”
While several municipalities are currently participating in Care Compass, Omer notes that others are already on a waiting list, should the project expand to include more participants.
Expansion, though slight, is underway at ELDYcare, which is in onboarding two new staffers, bringing its team total to five people. The company has funded its operations through personal investments as well as revenues from its subscription-based service from initial customers.
It also benefits from its relationship with Tehnopol Science and Business Park in Tallinn, where it’s a member of its healthtech community, currently about 105 companies and international organisations. ELDYcare is also a member of the Estonian Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics. While all this focus on the elderly might seem out of place for the company’s relatively young team — Omer is 33 — she notes that the company has long-term potential.
“We are building a future for ourselves as well,” Omer says. “We will be old someday too.”
