- Alive Ventures announced that it has formally spun out of Long Beach-based The SCAN Foundation — which is launching as a dedicated startup studio focused on imagining and building companies, products, and services to help older adults live and work
Alive Ventures announced that it has formally spun out of Long Beach-based The SCAN Foundation — which is launching as a dedicated startup studio focused on imagining and building companies, products, and services to help older adults live and work. And the startup studio’s formal spinout is supported with a $12 million phased investment from The Scan Foundation, which has been transforming care for older adults for over a decade and financial commitment will provide a long-term runway for the studio as it develops its portfolio of companies and partners.
Design talent, seasoned entrepreneurial talent, and older adults are being brought together to co-design and launch new generations of beautifully designed products. And Alive Ventures is focused exclusively on an underserved market of 55 million older Americans.
The studio is jumping on a problem at the crossroads of myriad cultural, economic, and generational issues. Ranging from reductionist stereotypes of aging, to a lack of cultural currency and status, adults age 65 and up have historically been an overlooked audience for design-led brands.
And Alive Ventures is catalyzing a new generation of design-led companies and talent, fostering an aspirational design culture anchored in the beauty of later life. This is going to bring an inspired and joyful lens to later adulthood, aiming to elevate the consciousness of what older adults already know as truth: experiences of love, work, friendships, and vitality become deeper and richer with age.
Alive Ventures is being led by social impact and design visionary John Zapolski — who has deep experience conceiving and building companies at the intersection of social impact and design. Zapolski is the creator of STEAM Carnival, a live entertainment brand that inspired kids to invent with science, technology, engineering, art, and math. And Zapolski is a co-founder of Fonderie 47, a fine jewelry and timepiece company developed to remove and destroy assault weapons from conflict zones, upcycling them into meaningful, elegant accessories.
“While an increasing number of companies, investors, and government agencies recognize the growing importance of serving older Americans well, relatively few entrepreneurs give serious consideration to the opportunities to build world-class products and services for the wants and needs of older people,” said Zapolski. “We hope to change that with Alive Ventures, demonstrating that there are multi-billion dollar markets waiting to be developed by delivering great design to the 55 million older adults in the U.S.”
