Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, who has been an active backer of start-ups, announced an undisclosed investment in a start-up that provides companionship to senior citizens as a service.  The latest investment by Tata has been announced into start-up firm Goodfellows, founded by Shantanu Naidu.

An alumnus of Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, Naidu works as a general manager in Tata's office and has been working with Tata since 2018. Shantanu shares Ratan Tata's love for dogs and strays and launched a start-up around pets called Motopaws.

According to Naidu, there are 50 million aged people who are living all alone and they are not surrounded by anyone to share their lives with. Naidu calls octogenarian industrialist as his boss, a mentor and also a friend.

Youngsters skilled with empathy and emotional intelligence are hired by start-up Goodfellows to work as senior citizen companions. They also help them with any task and need to ease their day.

Currently, Goodfellows companions are working with 20 elders in Mumbai. They have plans to offer services in Pune, Chennai and Bengaluru. Those hired as companions are needed to visit the senior citizens three times in a week and spend around four hours with them per visit.  The company charges Rs5000 as base subscription fees for a month, after a trial period of one month.