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Christina Bremner calls them “gated mousetraps” — online referral agencies that make users give up their contact information before offering help, then sell or share that info for solicitation. Bremner saw this over and over in her five years as a senior living marketing director for Tenfold Senior Living. She witnessed how seniors were then spammed with solicitations and pressure to move in now, now, now.

“I found it really sad,” says Bremner, founder and CEO of Purple Door Finders. “It’s such an emotional decision to move already, then to be under pressure. … My goal was to show seniors and family members all of their options and not just what online agencies wanted to show them.”

Purple Door Finders is a platform for seniors to connect with communities directly, eliminating the hassle of sales solicitations and the costs of referral fees paid by the communities. The Folsom-based startup is a software company that provides real-time information on vacancies, pricing, move-in incentives, services, amenities, community events and more.

Many online referral agencies charge fees from 50 percent to 130 percent of the first month’s rent and care. With Purple Door Finders, communities can join the platform with a basic listing or upgrade to a premium listing, starting at $59 monthly or $588 annually, based on the number of beds or units.

There are 36,000 communities on the database, which Bremner believes is the largest online database for senior living. Purple Door Finders is currently raising a seed round of $1.5 million. Those funds will support the marketing strategy and enhance the platform’s AI component, which will be an agentic AI.

“People can say, ‘I want an apartment that’s X dollars per month, where they play poker every night, and there’s a car to take me to my doctor’s appointments,’” Bremner says. “The AI will tell them, ‘We found this property. What style of dining do you like? Do you prefer organic food?’ Really dig in and become more of an advisor.”

In addition to winning several awards, including first place at the Carlsen Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s “Startup Challenge,” the startup was chosen as part of the 2025 cohort at FourthWave, an accelerator for women-led tech businesses.

“We chose Purple Door Finders because they flip the old referral model on its head — putting families in control with transparent, real-time information and alignment with operators through a simple operator subscription,” says Cheryl Beninga, co-founder of FourthWave and managing director for Beninga Advisors. “Early traction and a strong community pipeline told us the market is hungry for this solution.”

Beninga also highlighted Bremner’s blend of heart and rigor, describing her as “deeply empathetic to families and relentlessly data-driven in how she builds” with experience and the ability to get the job done without fear.

This startup is coming at the right time, Bremner says, noting that the senior population is growing faster than the communities to support it. Referred to as “Peak 65,” there are about 11,000 Americans turning 65 every day between now and 2027, and only 31,000 communities right now.

“To care for that growing population of seniors, it will need to double to 60,000 communities,” she says. “That’s why you’re seeing so many senior living communities and properties popping up everywhere across the US. The number of seniors will be tripling by 2060.”

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