Young at Heart! From travel to live interactive classes, GetSetUp gears up to make life and learning more fun for senior citizens

Curious to know what a digital hub for seniors who love to travel and take live interactive classes would offer? Here’s the thing – Everything!

Aileen Lee, Founder & Managing Partner of Cowboy Ventures asked his 80 year old mother to take a virtual class on GetSetUp platform and a day later she was totally ‘infatuated’ with the courses on making Indian food, exercising, speaking Mandarin and more!

In Lee’s words, “My mom is calling it ‘GSU’ like it’s a University. It is imperative to see through the growth of such an excellent platform for older adults.”

For the love of learning! GetSetUp’s new funding of $10 million
No wonder, GetSetUp has successfully raised $10 million in its new funding through ‘simple agreement for future equity’ (SAFE) warrants, which has been led by Aileen Lee’s Cowboy Ventures and LightShed Ventures, following an $11 million seed round in October last year.

GetSetUp has taken the digital world by storm for many reasons, the most obvious being, that it “creates a community that actively engages its members, building their confidence with technology” and has ‘the knowledge of the +50 population globally’, Rich Greenfield with LightShed Ventures points out what makes GetSetUp a ‘huge business’.

Expressing excitement, Deval Delivala, Co-founder and SVP, GetSetUp informs “We are excited to use this next round of funding to adapt our technology to meet the needs of seniors across the globe”.

Delivala adds, “I am looking to use some of this funding so that we can offer more classes, a greater variety in more diverse languages and using simpler technology.”

In a candid conversation with FinancialExpress.com, Deval Delivala, Co-Founder & SVP, GetSetUP, shares what the platform means for older adults. Across the platform’s 4 million users spanning more than 160 countries, there are over 500 live interactive classes that are conducted throughout the week. These classes are conducted for seniors and taught by seniors.

A notable feature is that not only are seniors coming out on the platform to learn on it, they are also becoming creators themselves and they are teaching their passion such as their favourite dish or activity to others!

From a travel perspective, the ongoing pandemic has left most senior citizens feeling more isolated than ever before, particularly as most of their direct social engagements reached a standstill during the lockdown. Nation wide, most senior citizens felt cooped up in their homes, they were unable to see their loved ones face-to-face and ‘going digital’ became their new norm too. Here’s how GetSetUp made life easier and happier for older adults.

Tell us more about GetSetUp from an Indian traveller perspective.
GetSetUp is a global community. Our members in India get plenty of opportunities to learn from members who live all over the world. When our community shares a virtual walk of where they live, shares a local cuisine and its significance in a class – it makes for a uniquely immersive experience.

Travel is also an excellent way for our community to share stories, pictures, re-live old memories and share itineraries with each other. We’ve had experts come and talk about niche topics like travel related to wildlife photography, preparing for hikes, going bird watching or just following a food trail in a particular city/state.

We also teach travel-related things like booking your tickets online, planning your expenses in a spreadsheet, using digital banking when travelling, scanning your docs before a trip and using maps to plan your trip better.

What specific and unique travel campaigns worked best for your Indian travellers and share some specific examples that are unique to your audience – older adults?
Our community is very well travelled, and they all have great travel stories and tips to share. For example, one member is in her 70s and shared how she prepared for base camp. Another shared how he loves backpacking and lives in hostels when he travels and how travel can be affordable even in Europe.

Some examples of classes that we’ve already done are below.

Travel with Rick Steves
Travel Diaries: Travel To Turkey with Avi
Travel Diaries: Travel Tips By Vibhuthi
Travel Diaries: Travel to Assam with Avi
Virtual Walk: Fun Day at Fort, Mumbai with Hashim

Share top 5 popular travel trends that are shaping up and which are the top 5 most preferred destinations that Indian travellers are opting for.
I think like the rest of us, everyone wants to go on their next trip! With all the visa issues and global travel restrictions, there is a lot of interest in places in India itself. We recently did a poll, and the top destinations they want to visit once they can are Meghalaya, Maldives, Andaman and Kashmir.

Do you expect the older adult Indian travellers to ditch revenge travel and opt for more conservative modes of travel such as virtual travel?
It’s not one or the other, a virtual class; a shared itinerary can help you plan a trip better. Virtual travel is a great way to experience a place before you go there, get a glimpse of life in that country/city and hear from other like-minded travellers. For example, we hosted a virtual tour of Spain with someone who lives there, and it’s a great way to learn about the culture, customs and cuisine. In addition, some of our community members have started offering small group city walking tours – to get to know your city better. We have a few coming up in Mumbai, Delhi etc. You can visit GetSetUp.io and search for Travel and book upcoming travel classes!