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What You Should Know
- The Funding: Wisdom, a smart home startup for older adults, has raised a total of $1.3M, including a new $315k social-impact investment from the Richard King Mellon Foundation.
- The Tech: Unlike traditional medical alerts that require a button push, Wisdom uses ambient sensing and edge AI to detect falls and activity changes automatically. It processes data locally on a “Home Hub” to protect privacy, avoiding the need for invasive cameras or wearables.
- The Mission: The investment is specifically targeted at underserved communities in Pittsburgh, addressing the “caregiver crisis” where the number of aging adults is projected to outpace the available workforce by 2050.
Supporting Families with Aging in Place Solutions
The math of aging in America is broken. By 2050, the population of adults over 65 will surge by 42% to 82 million, while the workforce of caregivers to support them is shrinking. We simply do not have enough humans to watch over our parents. Wisdom, a new smart home company, is betting that sensors can fill the gap.
Wisdom’s core differentiator is its invisibility. Traditional solutions like LifeAlert require the user to wear a pendant or press a button—actions that often fail due to forgetfulness or stigma.
Wisdom uses ambient sensors and edge AI to monitor the home passively.
- Privacy First: Data is analyzed locally on the Wisdom Home Hub, meaning no video feeds are sent to the cloud.
- Agentic Automation: The system learns daily patterns. If it detects a fall or a significant deviation in routine, it autonomously alerts caregivers and emergency services.
By deploying affordable, sensor-based monitoring in these communities, Wisdom aims to provide a safety net where human caregivers are scarce. The platform partners directly with home care agencies and non-profits, giving professional teams a data dashboard to triage care more effectively.
Samsung Collaboration
Wisdom isn’t working in isolation. In October 2025, the company announced a collaboration with Samsung Health to integrate Galaxy Watch data (like gait speed) into its ecosystem. This suggests a future where the home and the wearable work in concert to predict health declines before they become emergencies.
“Helping older adults remain safe and independent in the homes they love will become increasingly difficult as the gap widens between caregivers and the number of older adults who need support. We noticed a lack of innovation designed to support the older adult when no caregiver is present and that’s why we created Wisdom,” said Cathy Minter, Co-founder and CEO of Wisdom. “Without requiring any lifestyle changes or technical know-how from users, Wisdom provides families with continuous insight into safety and well-being, 24/7/365. For professional home care companies, Wisdom provides data that supports communications with families and improved overall care. The investment from the Richard King Mellon Foundation will accelerate our momentum refining and delivering a comprehensive solution not currently found on the market today.”
