Athulya, a premium assisted living service provider for senior citizens, is aiming to become a pan-India player by scaling up its capacity to 5,000 beds across the country.
Founded by Karthik Narayan, Srinivasan G, and J Krishna Kavya in 2016, Chennai-based Athulya provides assisted living, transition care and home healthcare services to senior citizens. It currently has over 1,000 beds spread across Chennai (500), Bengaluru (250), 100 beds each in Coimbatore and Hyderabad, and 80 beds each in Kochi and Tiruchi.
“Our business plan is to reach 5,000 beds across the country in the next 3-5 years time frame,” Srinivasan G, Founder and CEO, Athulya Senior Care told businessline.
In January, Athulya raised ₹77 crore funding from Morgan Stanley India Infrastructure, touted to be the largest in the senior living space. Srinivasan said the funding was to scale up capacity to 2,000 beds; 50 per cent of the target has been achieved. “We will reach 2,000 beds by this financial year,” he added.
Prior to the funding, Athulya was present only in Chennai and Bengaluru.
Srinivasan said the remaining 1,000 beds will mostly be added in South India. “We have 100 beds in Hyderabad, we can go up to 300 beds there; in Bengaluru, we can add another 250 beds. We can also expand to Mysuru, Vijayawada, and Thiruvananthapuram,” he said.
Senior living broadly operates in two models: real estate-based and non real-estate based senior living. Under the real estate-based model, a home, as part of a large senior living community, is sold upfront. The residential community offers fundamental services and infrastructure, including common food areas, doctor and nurse visits, basic healthcare and recreation. These are typically located in serene locations, outside city limits.
As a non-real estate based assisted living provider, Athulya offers home stay for senior citizens with geriatric-friendly infrastructure, clinical beds, food, basic nursing and doctor services, laundry, and housekeeping.