Singapore eldercare startup Aire eyes Malaysia expansion as revenue hits seven figures

[SINGAPORE] Eldercare startup Aire is eyeing Malaysia as its next market after hitting annual revenue of seven figures and expanding to 100 retail stores in just two years.

The Singapore company, which sells adult incontinence products designed for Asian seniors, aims to enter Malaysia within six to 12 months with a similar strategy – combining online sales and select offline retail partnerships, said founder Nivedita Venkateish.

Aire currently operates across 100 points of sale in Singapore, including supermarkets FairPrice and Sheng Siong, as well as pharmacies in the National Healthcare Group and SingHealth clusters. It also sells on platforms such as Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop.

Sales are split 55 per cent online and 45 per cent offline, Venkateish told The Business Times in a recent interview.

Venkateish said her ambition is for Aire to be the preferred brand of choice for Asian seniors in South-east Asia. “Our first and foremost goal is to be the most loved brand for older adults.”

“Impersonal and outdated”

Venkateish started the venture with a six-figure sum from her severance package after being laid off from Meta during the tech industry downturn in late 2022.

The idea for Aire came from personal experience. Her grandmother had incontinence, and her mother struggled to find the right products as a caregiver.

Walking down supermarket aisles, Venkateish noticed products that were “impersonal and outdated”. Materials were neither soft nor breathable for Singapore’s tropical climate.

Sizing was another issue. Asian body types typically need products that fit waists as small as 22 inches (56 cm), but established brands often start their sizing at 30 inches.

Worst of all, the products were not absorbent enough – the “first and biggest pain point” for many seniors.

Adult incontinence is different from period issues or babies peeing their pants because it’s so “deeply humiliating”.

“If you have an accident in public... it affects your self-esteem, how you view yourself, how you... interact with your family, if they think you’re smelling,” said Venkateish.

Armed with this understanding, she spent 10 months on consumer research, product testing and manufacturing partner selection before launching Aire’s first product in June 2023.

Retail breakthrough

Aire’s adult incontinence products are made with Asian bodies in mind. Addressing the needs of petite Asian seniors who experience muscle atrophy, its products start from 22 inches.

Aire also uses softer, breathable materials without plastic or polyethylene back sheets. The company’s ultra range offers two litres of absorbency – marketed as the highest in the market – and was developed based on direct consumer and caregiver feedback.

All products underwent blind testing with individuals and nursing homes against market leaders before launch, said Venkateish.

Initially, Venkateish focused on online sales. Then, she started going door-to-door to find her first offline customer.

A key turning point came when FairPrice committed to stocking Aire products in November 2023, following an introduction through a contact in Singapore Management University’s startup incubator programme. The products launched on FairPrice shelves in July 2024 after an eight-month process.

“That was quite the turning point because it just gave us that scale,” Venkateish said. “Without a banner like FairPrice, you are doing things more piecemeal.”

Aire has since expanded within FairPrice from hypermarkets to supermarkets and Finest outlets. The company launched at Sheng Siong in April 2025.

The company now employs five to six people in a mix of full-time and part-time roles, and plans to build out its team to support expansion.

In the early days, sales numbers were “very small” and “a fraction” of what Aire sees now. Venkateish attributed this to a few reasons: brand building takes a long time, and she was not able to put in much capital to scale the business.

Venkateish declined to reveal exact sales and revenue figures.

Growth spike

Things changed when venture capital firm DSG Consumer Partners backed Aire in April 2024. This led to a “significant growth spike” for the brand between 2024 and 2025, as the startup was able to invest in marketing, building the team and launching new products.

In terms of pricing, Venkateish said Aire is affordably priced at 10 to 15 per cent below the market leading brand. “Our goal has always been to maintain the highest quality but make sure it is not prohibitive for folks to try,” she said.

Another factor Venkateish attributes to Aire’s success is its aggressive push into offline stores.

Being on retail shelves gives a brand 24/7 awareness, “because you’re always in front of a consumer by having a product on shelf whenever the customer goes to shop”, said Venkateish.

“I know that a lot of startup brands don’t go into offline not as aggressively as we have done.”

Venkateish warned, though, not to underestimate seniors’ digital savviness. She noted that two years ago, most of Aire’s customers were caregivers buying products for their elderly parents. Two years on, however, more seniors are making purchases for themselves.

“They’re actually quite active online. We get a lot of orders on TikTok,” she said. “I think senior consumers are consuming a lot more content than we give them credit for. We just don’t know.”

Health and wellness

Beyond Malaysia, Aire also sees room for further expansion at home. Venkateish is eyeing the health and wellness space, such as independent pharmacies, rehabilitation facilities and nursing homes.

It is also looking to expand its existing footprint with current retailers. “Singapore is definitely still priority number one in terms of the opportunities with the existing retailers that we’re working with,” she said.

At the moment, fundraising is not a priority, said Venkateish. “Our school of thought is that we’re building consumer first, and we’re not building for investors or anybody else.”

“I come from a very consumer packaged goods-trained background. So we are focusing on growing smartly, rather than trying to raise a lot of money and then justify money raised.”

New product launches are planned within the next 12 months, with a focus on customisation for men and women, particularly for early-stage incontinence.

Longer term, Aire aims to expand beyond incontinence products to become a comprehensive brand for older adults across South-east Asia – though this remains several years away given the company’s still-nascent growth.