Patronus has secured €11 million in funding to transform senior emergency smartwatches from mere 'bedside decoration' into everyday wearable devices.

      3TS Capital Partners spearheaded the funding round along with Grazia Equity and existing investors. The company has 25,000 users, an 85% daily wear rate, and has handled over 500,000 emergency calls. Patronus is developing an AI companion for the smartwatch to combat loneliness during times when no family member is available.

      The Berlin-based startup, which focuses on senior safety, has secured €11 million to enhance its emergency smartwatch platform and create new AI-enabled companion features. The funding round was led by 3TS Capital Partners, with contributions from Grazia Equity and existing investors including Singular, Burda Principal Investments, Adjacent, NAP, and UVC Partners.

      Founded in 2021 by Ben Staudt and Tim Wagner, Patronus has raised roughly €33 million to date, which includes a €6 million seed round and a €27 million Series A—the largest Series A investment in European elder care—completed in October 2022.

      Patronus's founding story illustrates its mission. Staudt’s grandmother had a traditional emergency call button that was meant to be worn around her neck but ultimately remained on her bedside table, which she referred to as “bedside decoration”—too cumbersome, stigmatizing, and an unspoken acknowledgment of needing assistance.

      Prior to its launch, Staudt and his team spoke with over a thousand potential customers. The unified sentiment was that the issue was more about dignity than technology. Although traditional emergency buttons have been available for decades, serving about 1.2 million users in Germany alone, studies indicate that only 14% are worn consistently.

      The Patronus smartwatch addresses this issue by resembling a conventional wristwatch. It is available in various colors, tells time, and does not convey a message of needing help to everyone around the user.

      Commercially, this strategy has proven effective, with 25,000 users actively using the platform and an 85% daily wear rate—significantly higher than the traditional devices' 14% consistency. Patronus has managed over 500,000 emergency calls for its users, and 50,000 family members are connected through the companion Patronus app, which tracks whether the watch is being worn, if the user has left home, and provides location information during emergencies.

      The product is distributed in collaboration with Deutsche Telekom, which supplies the necessary connectivity infrastructure.

      The new funding will serve two main purposes: expanding the core emergency and family connectivity platform into additional European markets and developing an AI companion feature for the watch, which will act as a digital assistant for elderly users during times when family members are not present.

      The company emphasizes that this companion is not a substitute for human interaction; rather, it is designed to address moments of solitude. The loneliness experienced by older adults is recognized as a public health concern that significantly impacts mortality and cognitive decline—this is the issue that Patronus aims to tackle alongside its emergency safety capabilities.

      In wider demographic terms, Europe is facing challenges related to its aging population. Germany has two retirees for every new labor market entrant, and by 2040, the EU’s population over the age of 65 is projected to reach 130 million.

      The availability of professional carers is increasingly inadequate. Technologies that promote the safety and independence of older adults in their homes can alleviate pressures on families, emergency services, and residential care facilities, fulfilling both a market demand and a public health imperative.

      Patronus's €11 million funding round, for a company with 80 employees and 25,000 paying users, represents a growth-stage investment in a business with established unit economics in a market experiencing clear structural advantages.