The SA village provider has joined the board of the startup, which was founded by Victorian brothers Tim and Matt McDougall in 2016 after attracting seed funding of $1 million-plus led by health insurers HCF.
Billy uses a series of sensors around the home to monitor the daily activities of residents at home or in assisted living and share the information with families via a smartphone app and runs on a monthly subscription fee of $60 per kit.
ECH CEO Dr David Panter says the decision to invest was driven by the group’s 2014 decision to divest itself of its aged care facilities to focus on new ways of helping people live independently at home as they age.
ECH has since championed this idea, including establishing five wellness centres and most recently pushing for a Level 5 Home Care Package (HCP) to allow more Australians to die at home.
Billy now hopes to tap into the global market with the new funding injection.
CEO Rob Deeming says there is a big opportunity for Billy in the US, where it has partnered assisted living providers such as Catholic Healthcare and First & Main and also has links to the country’s largest insurer, the New York-listed $US44 billion ($60 billion) Humana.
