Dartmouth’s Nxtgen Care, which sells technology for tracking the activities of staff and residents in assisted living facilities, is expanding into Florida and Louisiana as CEO David Burke eyes about US$2.5 million in new sales in 2023.
Nxtgen is used in care homes in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, as well as in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee — the result of a United States expansion that began around 2020. About 6,000 people are now on the platform in some capacity, and Burke hopes to double that number this year.
He said the $2.5 million figure is based on the deals in Nxtgen's sales pipeline that look set to close this year, with roughly another $400 million worth of sales further off in the pipeline — albeit at varying stages of development.
The system works by using wearable Bluetooth devices to monitor the locations of staff and residents when they are on assisted living campuses. Proximity data gathered from the wearables allows Nxtgen to assess the type and quality of residents’ social interactions.
“Our game plan all along has been to establish our commercial success in Eastern Canada and then head south to the U.S. market, and that plan has been coming together quite nicely,” said Burke in an interview.
“It’s a significant affirmation that what we’re trying to do here with our software is both needed and necessary for the (baby) boomer market that’s already upon us and will be changing the face of aging over the next 30 to 50 years.”
Nxtgen was founded in 2017 by Burke, President Dan LeBlanc and Chief Technology Officer Shaun Kenny. Burke owns several care homes, and LeBlanc and Kenny are alumni of SportsDirect, a sports data startup that was acquired by then-Chicago-based Tribune Media Company.
During the pandemic, Nxtgen conducted most of its installations remotely, coaching staff at assisted living facilities on how to set up the equipment.
Now, Burke said in-person installations are becoming more common again, but he expects remote installations to continue to be a tool his team relies on to accommodate their growth plans.
“One of the things about being commercially successful is that we do have some revenue, which has allowed us to continue to finance our growth and our innovation,” he said.
Nxtgen is not planning on raising capital in the immediate future. Burke said the company recently rejected a “very nice” term sheet from a prospective investor, but he and his team are aiming for a Series A raise in 2025, after global economic conditions stabilize.