Now in the black, this Malaysian startup seeks gold in silver economy

Kiddocare founder Nadira Yusoff (seated, center) together with her team during the announcement of the firm’s pre-series A round / Photo credit: Kiddocare

In its 2020 study, the World Bank predicted that Malaysia would become a “super-aged” society by 2056, where more than 20% of its population would be above the age of 65.

The country is certainly heading there. According to data from Malaysia’s Department of Statistics, the nation will be considered an “aged” society in seven years’ time.

This has given rise to talks of the so-called silver economy, and one startup that’s positioning itself to tap into that market is Kuala Lumpur-based Kiddocare.

Founded in 2019, the company’s initial aim was to provide on-demand babysitting services for urban families. But times have changed and, according to founder Nadira Yusoff, the firm is gearing up to tackle the other end of the care spectrum: the needs of people over the age of 50.

The startup’s plan? To build a super app. It’s expected to launch a fresh suite of services in 2024.

From cradle to grave

Nadira tells Tech in Asia that Kiddocare is working to make its app a one-stop solution for the entire care economy. To do this, she says 40% of the company’s annual revenue is dedicated to building its tech stack.

This concept, which Nadira calls “cradle to grave,” came after the firm looked into the data it had collected since its launch. The information shows that many Malaysians are in the sandwich generation, where they have to both care for their children and aging parents.

But it’s also a business decision, Nadira says, as positioning Kiddocare as an “on-demand service provider” means it has more avenues for customer retention.

This can be achieved by offering users a range of services – from targeted ecommerce deals, elderly care, home cleaning services, to life coaching – features that Nadira says are in the pipeline for Kiddocare.

For child care services, which cater to parents of children between the ages of 1 and 12, Kiddocare has incentives and tie-ups that include collaborations with early childhood education providers. There’s also a corporate rate where companies can engage Kiddocare to provide babysitting services for children of staff.

If the startup’s cradle-to-grave ambitions pan out, Nadira says Kiddocare will be Malaysia’s answer to Care.com, the US-based two-sided marketplace that provides care services while also allowing caregivers to find jobs.

Navigating headwinds

Kiddocare’s strength is its ability to garner a customer base of mostly millennial families with significant spending power.

This was primarily due to how the platform was marketed, which relied on word of mouth as well as partnerships with online women’s groups.

From Google Forms to app