Y Combinator backed startup True Link has raised $3.4 million from a group of investors led by Cambia Health Solutions. Kapor Capital, Collaborative Fund and Generator Ventures are also participants. Cambia Health Solutions is a non-profit total health solutions company based in the Pacific Northwest/Intermountain region, serving consumers and communities for nearly 100 years.
“The thing we liked about Cambia, relative to other investors, is that they have a strong thesis around ageing,” said True Link’s CEO Kai Stinchcombe. “If you go into pick a fund on Sand Hill Road, they tend to be youth-centric. But if aging isn’t a big picture trend, I don’t know what would be demographically.” He added that two thirds of the bank accounts are held by people over 60.
Based in San Francisco, CA True Link is a provider of anti-fraud and scam protection services for caregivers of ageing adults. In response to a large number of older adults falling prey to telemarketers, unscrupulous products advertised on TV, sham charities, investment deals and such, True Link developed a True Link card which can be used to Block purchases at specific stores or merchant categories, easily set or adjust spending limits, receive alerts of suspicious charges, auto-reload from a linked account on a schedule or as needed. One can authorise use at only specific stores and any suspicious activity at an unidentified location will be reported.
The service is $10 a month. Cards can be funded from a bank account or direct deposit, and True Link says the process takes less than five minutes to set up.
True Link was recently recognised as the top online tool for retirement planning and living by WSJ. Reported by Techcrunch, Stinchcombe said the card was almost “infinitely customizable.” You can put limits like up to $50 at specific stores like Target or on phone bills. True Link typically gets new customers through word of mouth, or through professional service providers like financial planners or geriatric care managers.
Kai Stinchcombe established the firm after his family discovered that his grandmother was writing upto seventy- five cheques to fake charities every month. It was set up to offer assistance to millions of elderly people being conned out of large sums of money in retirement savings without unreasonable amount of monitoring or their financial independence and pride being compromised.
He stated, “Our customers save about $195 a month on average and they use our card as a replacement about their checking account,” However, he didn’t disclose how many customers the company has. Stinchcombe is reportedly planning to expand to other kind of assets that they could protect, like people’s credit scores and their savings with this funding.
(image credit: Garry Knight)
