Consumer health devices · Senior safety and fall detection
Amulyte
A pendant built to give seniors a help button that worked outside the house, not just inside it. Backed by Y Combinator in 2013, funded partly through equity crowdfunding, and out of business within a few years.
A pendant, not a base station
Jaclyn Konzelmann and Perry Haldenby met at the University of Waterloo, both in the mechatronics program, and both had grandparents who had fallen. Haldenby's grandmother broke her hip and waited two hours on the floor before his aunt found her. "Those hours you spend on the ground are crucial in terms of how much your hospital bills cost and how likely it is that you can eventually gain independence," he said on the company's Wefunder page.
What they built was a pendant about half the size of a business card, meant to be worn around the neck or carried in a pocket. Inside sat a cellular radio, Wi-Fi and GPS modules, an accelerometer, a microphone, and a battery rated for about a week. On the outside, users saw one thing: a help button. Press it, and the device worked through a preset list of emergency contacts, calling and texting them in order until someone answered, according to TechCrunch's August 2013 writeup.
"All these devices are tied to a base station using 30-year-old technology," Konzelmann told TechCrunch. That was the pitch in one line: existing personal emergency response systems, the category built by LifeAlert and its imitators, kept seniors tethered to a base station at home. Amulyte was meant to work anywhere a cell signal reached.
The problem they pointed to
The company's public materials leaned on a consistent set of numbers. Falls are the leading cause of injury for seniors and affect about one in three elderly people, the founders said, citing the Centers for Disease Control. Most falls happen outside the home, which is exactly where a base-station system cannot help. And with a US senior population the company put at 40 million and rising, Amulyte's founders told Crowdfund Insider they saw a $10 billion market opportunity.
Existing mobile personal emergency response devices already existed by 2013, among them Philips Lifeline's GoSafe and offerings from GreatCall, MobileHelp, Verizon and Lifecomm, MobiHealthNews reported at the time. Amulyte's distinguishing claims were a sleeker pendant form factor, an accelerometer used for both fall detection and everyday activity tracking, and an online portal that let multiple family members and caregivers see the same information.
Launch, price, and a crowdfunding pivot
Amulyte launched publicly in August 2013 as a Y Combinator company. TechCrunch and WearableTech.io both reported an initial preorder price of $99, with a $30 monthly service fee for the cellular and monitoring connection. By the time the company posted its Wefunder pitch that October, the listed price had moved to $149 plus $29 a month, with the team saying it was considering dropping back toward $99.
The device was still in testing at that point. Amulyte said it was piloting prototypes in a retirement home in Toronto and planned to add a second pilot site in California, which has one of the largest senior populations of any US state, according to MassDevice.
In September 2013, MassDevice reported that Amulyte had raised $250,000 in venture capital funding and was turning to equity crowdfunding on Wefunder to raise up to $2 million toward a 2014 market launch. Whether that $2 million target was reached is not stated in any source found for this page.
What came after
Public tracking of the company thins out quickly after 2013 and 2014. CB Insights lists Amulyte's total raised as $20,000, attributed to Y Combinator, a figure that covers only the standard YC check and does not reconcile with the $250,000 MassDevice reported the same year. PitchBook records a seed round dated January 1, 2013 with the amount not disclosed in the source available for this page, and then marks the company's status as out of business as of February 1, 2017. Tracxn separately lists Amulyte as deadpooled, founded 2012, with one to ten employees as of its last recorded snapshot. No source found here documents a specific closure date, reason, or final product shipment.
The founders moved on. Jaclyn Konzelmann later became a Director of Product Management at Google, appearing as a speaker at Google I/O in 2024. Perry Haldenby's LinkedIn profile lists him at Parallel Studios. Neither profile was read in full for this page; both are cited only for the current employer they display publicly.
What is proven, and what is still claimed
| Evidence | What the record shows | Source type |
|---|---|---|
| FDA status | No 510(k), PMA, or other FDA record found for Amulyte as of research date. | Not found |
| Product launch | Pendant with GPS, cellular radio, Wi-Fi, accelerometer and help button, described in hands-on coverage at launch, August 2013. | Independent |
| Venture funding, 2013 | MassDevice reported the company had raised $250,000 in venture capital funding as of September 2013. | Independent |
| Wefunder crowdfunding target | Amulyte opened an equity crowdfunding campaign on Wefunder in September 2013 seeking up to $2 million. No source found confirms how much was actually raised through it. | Not found |
| Total funding, as tallied later | CB Insights lists total raised of $20,000, credited to Y Combinator. PitchBook lists a January 2013 seed round with the amount not shown in the source used here. Neither figure matches the $250,000 MassDevice reported. | Differs across sources |
| Company status | PitchBook records Amulyte's status as out of business, dated February 1, 2017. Tracxn and Crunchbase separately list the company as deadpooled or closed. | Independent |
Read plainly: Amulyte built and demonstrated a working prototype, secured a Y Combinator slot and at least some seed capital, and tried to bridge to a 2014 launch with equity crowdfunding. What is missing from the public record is any confirmation the device shipped at scale, any regulatory record, and any account of how or exactly when the company wound down.
What to watch
- Whether the Wefunder campaign closed successfully; no public total was found.
- Any confirmation of units shipped or a formal shutdown announcement, neither of which turned up in this research.
- Whether either founder's current work, Konzelmann at Google or Haldenby at Parallel Studios, revisits senior safety technology.
In their words
“All these devices are tied to a base station using 30-year-old technology.”
Jaclyn Konzelmann, co-founder, TechCrunch, Aug 16, 2013 · Independent
“The conclusion was that this space was stagnant and riddled with antiquated technology that hadn't been improved upon in decades.”
Jaclyn Konzelmann, co-founder, quoted by MobiHealthNews, Aug 20, 2013 · Independent
“Most falls happen outside the home, and Amulyte addresses that by enabling seniors to live their lives beyond the range in which existing systems work.”
Perry Haldenby, co-founder, Crowdfund Insider, Sep 26, 2013 · Independent
“Those hours you spend on the ground are crucial in terms of how much your hospital bills cost and how likely it is that you can eventually gain independence.”
Perry Haldenby, co-founder, Amulyte Wefunder campaign page, Oct 2013 · Company-stated
“Many are a terrible experience that don’t empower the user at all.”
Jaclyn Konzelmann, co-founder, Amulyte Wefunder campaign page, Oct 2013 · Company-stated
“Many seniors tell us that they would love to have our device because they could go for a walk and not have to worry about getting help quickly if they fall.”
Perry Haldenby, co-founder, TechCrunch, Aug 16, 2013 · Independent
Related companies
Sources
- IndependentYC-Backed Amulyte Is Building A Better Lifeline For Seniors On The Move
- IndependentAmulyte is the latest to tackle mPERS space
- IndependentAmulyte - Wearable Technology For Seniors
- IndependentY Combinator-backed Canadian Startup Amulyte Launches to Build Wearable Technology for Seniors
- IndependentAmulyte looks to crowdsource $2M for emergency alert device
- IndependentAmulyte Raises Equity On Wefunder
- CompanyAmulyte campaign page
- CompanyAmulyte company page
- IndependentAmulyte company profile
- IndependentAmulyte Company Profile: Valuation & Investors
- IndependentAmulyte organization profile
- IndependentAmulyte company profile
- IndependentAmulyte company profile
- IndependentJaclyn Konzelmann, speaker profile
- IndependentPerry Haldenby, public profile
Profile researched and written by Healthcare Discovery. Last updated September 29, 2026.
