K4Connect, a start-up concentrated on bringing new technologies like voice help, home automation, digital messaging and more to older grownups and those dealing with disabilities, has closed on $21 million in Series B funding. The B round had actually initially covered in October 2018, however was extended with the recent addition of $7.7 million led by Specialty Ventures.
Others taking part in the round include existing financiers Sierra Ventures, Intel Capital, AXA Venture Partners, the Ziegler Link – Age Fund, Revolution’s Increase of the Rest, Topmark Partners (formerly Stonehenge Growth Equity Partners) and Traverse. As a result of the new financing, Specialty Ventures’ Louis Rajczi will sign up with the start-up’s board. To date, K4Connect has actually raised $31 million in venture funding.
Image Credits: K4Connect
Significantly, the extra funds were raised in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, which has actually been disproportionately affecting older grownups in care facilities, cutting off their communication from enjoyed ones and disrupting their everyday activities.
The K4Connect platform, which today serves over 800 continuing care, independent living and assisted living communities throughout the U.S., can help to attend to much of the difficulties these neighborhoods are now dealing with.
The start-up was co-founded in 2013 by Scott Moody, the entrepreneur whose biometrics company AuthenTec sold to Apple, where it became the basis for Touch ID.
Now K4Connect’s CEO, Moody had moved to Raleigh, N.C. to retire, however quickly recognized he still had energy left to start another company.
That altered when Moody fulfilled a man, Eric, who was a supporter for the homeless and living with MS. He told the founder that when he gets up in the early morning, he has the energy for about a thousand good actions during his day– and how he uses those actions defines the quality of his life. He said the clever house tech K4Connect was developing might help him make his life better.
Moody right away rotated the business to reroute its focus on serving those in comparable circumstances, which didn’t just consist of people dealing with specials needs however also the wider senior market.
Image Credits: K4Connect
Today, the FusionOS-powered platform integrates a suite of options designed for residents in independent or assisted living facilities as well as other care facilities. This consists of tools to remain connected to their households through voice and video messaging, as well as those for accessing a digital resident directory site, playing games and remaining notified on the latest neighborhood news– ranging from COVID-19 updates to everyday meal menus to upgraded visitation policies, or anything else the facility wants to broadcast.
For the facilities who purchase the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) service for their communities, there are other productivity tools they can utilize, like those for event management, resident surveys, local and family management, communications, prospect communications and more. Due the coronavirus outbreak, K4Connect is even establishing an expanded video chat service that will enable homeowners to video call staff for their demands, rather of having staff enter their rooms.
Another key aspect to K4Connect’s service is its clever home automation functionality.
The company arrangements Alexa devices for homeowners, so they don’t have to set up devices themselves– they just plug them in. It also supports other home automation devices like wise thermostats, wise lights, movement sensors, sleep tracking gadgets and more.
This is all managed by method of the business’s “K4Community” service powered by the underlying FusionOS innovation. Citizens can access this as an app on their own smart devices, on pre-provisioned tablets or perhaps through digital signage in the center itself.
The SaaS solution is priced based on per-resident basis and the cost depends on which modules the center wishes to utilize in their own setup. This can range from a couple of dollars per month per local to tens of dollars monthly per local, Moody states, and includes support.
Image Credits: K4Connect
As it ends up, K4Connect had a bit of a head start in terms of dealing with services more specifically developed to meet the needs of its neighborhoods amidst the coronavirus outbreak, thanks to suggestions from its investors.
” Having investors like Intel and AXA did offer a wider perspective,” says Moody.
Moody currently knew that even the flu affected older adults more than the general population. Due to K4Connect’s market of elders, he increased what investors were stating might be the impact of coronavirus by a much larger factor.
” We kind of saw it coming,” Moody confesses. I simply believed it was going to have a considerable impact on the economy, however more notably, the individuals we serve.
” If I was wrong, then we were going to be more ready. And if I was right, then we would be in a circumstance where we can in fact help serve individuals,” says Moody.
K4Connect adjusted its roadmap to focus on specific locations, like interactions, content delivery, and pre-provisioning the Alexa Dot speakers, in order to limit time invested setting up in citizens’ spaces, to name a few things. Today, its service offers features like resident-to-resident video chat for those now stuck in their spaces, tools for scheduling time slots in the dining location for centers limiting large groups, access to livestreamed material– like those yoga classes you can’t go to face to face– and more.
With the included funding, K4Connect, now a team of 57 full-time, plans to further broaden into the senior market, including not just those in centers and senior communities, however likewise those living in budget-friendly housing by themselves. The team is actively developing solutions for this market sector, Moody states.
“ We are incredibly fortunate in our investor relationships because they not just think in our vision but similarly worth our mission,” Moody stated, in a statement about the brand-new financing. “Specialty Ventures is a prime example of that relationship and we’re proud to invite them to the bench of our valued financiers. With their support, and all of our investors, we’re continuing to accelerate to serve as lots of older grownups through technology as possible.”
TechCrunch.
