Summary
- Profile Type
- Business Offer
- POD Reference
- BORS20250531003
- Term of Validity
- 28 June 2025 - 28 June 2026
- Company's Country
- Serbia
- Type of partnership
- Investment agreement
- Commercial agreement
- Targeted Countries
- All countries
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General information
- Short Summary
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Ovio is a social-impact startup that connects socially isolated seniors - those not sick enough for medical care but too frail for full independence with trained, background-checked companions. This is done over a two-sided marketplace platform that enables flexible visit packages enabling meaningful human connection, improves wellbeing, and gives peace of mind to families, while empowering women and students with dignified, purposeful work.
Ovio also offer B2B ESG services to help the elderly. - Full Description
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Ovio is a Serbian social-impact startup that tackles a growing crisis across Europe, social isolation among the elderly. While medical systems respond to physical health decline, millions of older adults fall into a grey area: they are not yet ill enough for state intervention or formal care, but they are no longer able to maintain active, fulfilling social lives. These are the "elderly in-betweeners" - and they are slipping through the cracks.
Across Europe, 23% of people over 65 are socially isolated, meaning they have fewer than three meaningful interactions per week. This isolation is not just an emotional issue - it is medically urgent. Social isolation is now officially classified as a health risk by the EU, linked to accelerated cognitive decline, higher risk of dementia, depression, and early mortality. In Serbia alone, over 70,000 seniors fall into this category in Belgrade, with state-run programs reaching only a minority and thousands on waiting lists.
Ovio steps in where the system stops.
We provide non-medical, human-centered companionship to socially isolated seniors through a tech-enabled, two-sided platform. Families or institutions can sign up online and purchase flexible packages of 3, 5, or 7 in-person visits per week, each lasting one or two hours. They post their needs on the Ovio platform, and trained companions apply. Scheduling, payments, and reporting are managed through the platform, making the process frictionless for all sides.
What sets Ovio apart is our focus on prevention through interaction, observation, and activation. Companions are not cleaners or nurses - they are specially trained individuals who go through police and court checks, three psychometric tests, and Ovio’s proprietary training program, which covers:
Anti-ageism and communication
Occupational therapy and motivational practices
Neurological observation and early warning signs
Use of digital tools for reporting and alerting families
Most of our companions are women over 45, early retirees, or students, often in economically vulnerable positions. Ovio empowers them with dignified, flexible, and meaningful work, offering a rare win-win: while seniors get social support, families get peace of mind, and companions get sustainable income and purpose.
Our solution is not medical, it’s preventative.
We work alongside medical providers and NGOs, not against them. In cases of advancing need, Ovio refers clients to partner organizations like caregiving agencies or local Red Cross chapters. We reduce bottlenecks in eldercare by covering the earlier stage of decline - when companionship and observation can still delay deterioration. Our network of companions is expanding thanks to partnerships with caregiving schools, social work faculties, and the Red Cross of Serbia.
Our long-term impact includes:
Improving mental and emotional wellbeing in the elderly population
Reducing the pressure on healthcare and social service systems
Delaying the onset of costly medical or institutional care
Providing local employment for underutilized labor groups
Generating ethically gathered observational data for public health insights
Our future roadmap includes the introduction of wearable devices for passive health monitoring, panic button systems, and a 3-sided mobile app for families, companions, and seniors. These will enable advanced reporting, location awareness, vitals tracking, and telemedical referrals - while preserving the human-first focus at the core of Ovio’s mission.
Ovio is not just a business - it’s a movement to care for those who once cared for us. By filling a critical gap between full health and full care, we aim to redefine how societies support their aging populations. As Europe faces a demographic shift toward an older population, solutions like Ovio will become increasingly essential - not just economically, but morally. - Advantages and Innovations
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Ovio introduces a fundamentally new approach to elderly care by focusing not on illness or dependence, but on social isolation as a preventable health risk. While most solutions target seniors only after their condition deteriorates - through state-run social services, nurses, or care homes - Ovio intervenes earlier, in the overlooked phase between independence and decline.
What makes Ovio innovative?
A new care category: non-medical companionship as prevention
Ovio is not a caregiver service, nor a nurse dispatch app. It defines and scales a new layer of support for the “elderly in-betweeners” - those who need social interaction, stimulation, and monitoring, but not yet formal medical care. This segment is large, underserved, and growing rapidly in aging societies.
Human-first, tech-enabled service delivery
Ovio’s platform simplifies every step of care for both families and companions: digital onboarding, verified matching, real-time scheduling, automatic payments, and post-visit reports. But technology is only a tool - the core service is deeply human
Ovio custom education ensures consistent service quality and makes the companion role accessible to people without formal healthcare backgrounds, especially women over 45 or students, two groups facing barriers in traditional employment.
Rapid onboarding and low bottlenecks
Unlike caregiver or nurse-based models that face high churn and certification delays, Ovio can scale faster. Our model reduces the pressure on already stretched social systems and fills the care gap before full deterioration begins.
Strong public–private–NGO positioning
Ovio works in cooperation, not in competition, with public and nonprofit actors, enabling mutual referrals and alignment with broader social strategies. Partnerships with Red Cross Serbia, social care faculties, and CSR sponsors ensure visibility, trust, and access to both talent and families in need. - Stage of Development
- Available for demonstration
- Sustainable Development Goals
- Goal 10: Reduced Inequality
- Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
- Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Goal 17: Partnerships to achieve the Goal
- Goal 5: Gender Equality
- Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being
- IPR status
- Secret know-how
Partner Sought
- Expected Role of a Partner
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Ovio is actively seeking a committed EU-based commercial partner to support the scale-up and regionalization of our preventative social support platform for the elderly. The ideal partner will be a mission-aligned company or institution with experience in elderly services, healthcare innovation, impact-driven technologies, or workforce solutions related to aging populations. Our partnership model is designed to create a mutual value exchange that accelerates our shared impact across European markets, while building a sustainable and scalable solution to the rising problem of elderly social isolation.
The expected role of the commercial partner includes the following:
1. Market Access & Regional Expansion Support
As Ovio looks to expand beyond Serbia into other European Union markets—starting with Central and Eastern Europe—the partner will play a key role in providing:
Market entry intelligence: Support in understanding national or regional regulations, eldercare ecosystems, and relevant licensing procedures.
Operational localisation: Guidance on cultural adaptations, platform localization, and hiring/training needs for the companion workforce in the target region.
Client and institutional introductions: Facilitation of introductions to local eldercare networks, public health authorities, NGOs, care homes, or family support groups.
Distribution partnerships: Support in identifying distribution channels or customer bases (B2C or B2B) that would benefit from Ovio’s services.
2. Strategic Business Development & Piloting
The partner is expected to collaborate with Ovio in launching pilot programs or test markets that demonstrate proof of concept within a new geography. This could include:
Co-designing a localized pilot project (e.g., within a care facility network, a municipality, or an insurance framework).
Sharing infrastructure or internal resources to enable initial deployment (e.g., HR, legal, or PR support).
Co-financing or co-sponsoring initial user acquisition or onboarding activities.
Collecting and sharing data for the evaluation of pilot outcomes, measuring improvements in quality of life, caregiver relief, and system-level benefits.
3. Commercialization and Value Chain Integration
The partner will also assist in exploring commercial synergies and potentially integrating Ovio services into existing offerings. For example:
Bundling Ovio packages into private insurance, senior housing memberships, or wellness platforms.
Offering Ovio as a CSR or ESG-aligned benefit to employees caring for elderly parents or relatives.
Leveraging existing sales or client networks to resell or white-label Ovio’s service where appropriate.
Exploring co-development opportunities for wearables, IoT devices, or digital tools related to elderly care, particularly those that support early detection, reporting, or health tracking.
4. Contribution to Long-Term Strategic Impact
A critical part of this collaboration will be the alignment on social-impact goals and EU priorities, especially those related to:
The European Care Strategy, which emphasizes prevention, dignity, and access to care for all elderly citizens.
CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) objectives, helping companies fulfill new reporting standards on social care and vulnerable group inclusion.
Initiatives around gender employment and digital inclusion, as Ovio creates accessible, dignified employment for women over 45, students, and individuals in precarious economic situations.
5. Data, Insights, and Policy Alignment
The partner will help co-develop models for responsible use of anonymized wellbeing and behavioral data, collected through companion reports and, eventually, wearable devices. This data can inform:
Elderly health trends
Early risk detection models
Policy discussions on aging and care gaps
Public–private research on non-medical interventions
All data use will be GDPR-compliant and ethically aligned, with transparency for users and partners alike. - Type and Size of Partner
- SME 50 - 249
- SME 11-49
- Big company
- Type of partnership
- Investment agreement
- Commercial agreement
Dissemination
- Technology keywords
- 11004 - Technology, Society and Employment
- 11003 - Information and media, society
- 11001 - Socio-economic models, economic aspects
- 11002 - Education and Training
- 06005002 - Sensors & Wireless products
- Market keywords
- 07005006 - Other consumer services (including photo processing)
- 05010002 - Cognitive aid
- 05010001 - Safety for the elderly
- 05005005 - Geriatrics
- Sector Groups Involved
- Creative Industries
- Proximity & Social Economy
- Health
- Targeted countries
- All countries
