SME / HEALTHCARE

By FedEx | First published: February 24, 2023  Updated: April 21, 2026

Raised by her grandmother and an elderly nanny, Gillian Tee has long been passionate about caring for seniors. Here’s how she turned that dedication into an award-winning on-demand homecare platform that provides better support for families.

In fast-aging societies like Singapore, the future of healthcare is shifting from hospitals to homes.

By 2030, one in four Singaporeans will be aged 65 and above, and an estimated 152,000 residents will be living with dementia. This aging population has urgent care needs that cannot be met by expanding hospital capacity alone. Elderly homecare helps to ease the pressure on healthcare providers, allowing patients to receive support in the comfort of their own homes.

But when many families lack the time or expertise to look after older relatives, how can seniors get access to trained caregivers – often on short notice? Digital innovation is critical to bridge this gap.

One Singapore startup blazing a trail in on-demand homecare is Homage, a digital health platform that connects individuals with care professionals. Besides homecare services for the elderly, Homage delivers home-based nursing, therapy, and specialized care for patients of all ages.

Every patient has specific needs, and finding a caregiver with the right qualifications, physical abilities, and communication skills can be challenging. Homage’s matching engine simplifies this process. Families can fill up a care profile on the Homage app in a few clicks, book an in-person care assessment with a licensed nurse, and get matched to a trained caregiver from the platform’s 15,000-strong pool.

Since its launch in 2016, Homage has earned acclaim for using technology to improve lives – including winning the FedEx Small Business Grant Contest in 2022. We spoke with Gillian Tee, the CEO and co-founder of Homage, to discover the inspiration behind her business and her tips for success as a tech entrepreneur.

Can you share more about yourself?

Gillian Tee: I’m a proud Singaporean with a degree in computer science. After graduate school, I started my own business in New York. After selling the business, I decided to move back to Singapore because I wanted to work on something that can create a positive social impact and make a difference in people’s lives.

When I was a child, I was primarily raised by an elderly nanny and my grandmother. That’s why caring for the elderly is a cause close to my heart – and a key factor in shaping who I am today.

When did you launch Homage, and how has it grown over the years?

After 15 years living abroad, I returned home and started Homage in 2016. Our technology platform helps to match caregivers, nurses, therapists, and doctors with people with chronic illnesses – mostly seniors, but also youths with muscular and skeletal issues, and children at home.

Apart from Singapore where we’re headquartered, we also have a presence in Australia and Malaysia. In Malaysia, we collaborate with like-minded companies and health institutions to decentralize the burden of healthcare and provide citizens with access to high-quality care at home. In Australia, we’re helping to alleviate the country’s forecasted shortage of over 110,000 aged care workers within the decade by enabling better access to healthcare professionals.

Today, we work with more than 15,000 licensed and trained care professionals, including caregivers, nurses, therapists, and doctors. To date, we’ve provided over one million hours of caregiving services across three markets.

What inspired you to enter the caregiving space?

Since young, I’ve always been keen on creating platforms to support the less fortunate. But due to other commitments and responsibilities, I had to put this passion on the back burner. One day, as I was reflecting on my life, I shifted my focus from what the world could give me, to what I could give back to the world.

My personal experience with struggling to care for family members, coupled with a desire to help the vulnerable, led me to create Homage. It’s the alchemy of my three great passions: business, tech, and social affairs.

What does winning the FedEx Small Business Grant Contest (SBGC) mean to you?

Since starting in 2016, Homage has scaled up to a team of over 250 employees. Our long-term goal is to help families access affordable care and support services, anytime and anywhere.

We’re extremely proud to be recognized as one of four startup winners in the FedEx SBGC. This is a testament to our hard work and impact in the long-term homecare space in Singapore and beyond. For smaller companies like us, it means a lot to be acknowledged for the social impact we’re creating. The recognition also helps increase awareness of the caregiving industry and promote our brand in the region.

The FedEx grant will strengthen our operations and community outreach, enabling us to expand and reach more communities.

What are some challenges you’ve faced, and how did you overcome them?

Despite considerable attention given to the shortage of aged care workers, it can be challenging to get people to commit to being part of the ecosystem. There are other jobs and industries that offer better stability. 

At Homage, we’ve created a system that helps alleviate caregiver shortages by providing enhanced training to qualified individuals. And through our award-winning platform, we can connect healthcare professionals to care recipients more effectively based on their needs.

What’s next for Homage?

As we continue to recruit and expand our pool of caregivers, we plan to scale their capabilities by providing them with more training. For example, by offering programs tailored for people with dementia, we can equip caregivers with the knowledge and skills to handle different patients and situations.

What tips can you give to budding tech entrepreneurs?

Always think long-term and don’t lose sight of the endgame. Even if it doesn’t seem possible now, you’ll eventually get there. It’s very easy for people to have a thousand opinions about you or your business. Remember to stay true to yourself, find your inner compass, and embrace change.