JE Dunn leads $500K round in smart apartment startup Homebase
July 20, 2017 | Bobby Burch
A handful of Kansas City firms both large and small are partnering to advance smart home technologies.
Blake Miller
JE Dunn Construction Group and Sunflower Development Group have led at $500,000 investment round in Kansas City-based Homebase, a tech firm building an IoT smart apartment and building platform for multi-family properties. Will Winkler of PSW Real Estate, Andrew Brain of Brain Family Development and John Meyer of Lemonly also joined in the round.
Homebase’s app allows tenants to not only pay rent and request maintenance, but also schedule services and tap a plethora of smart home technology that has emerged in recent years. Homebase also enables property managers to remotely manage vacant units’ lighting and thermostats to help with utility costs.
Homebase CEO Blake Miller said the funding adds credibility to the IoT firm as well as scale outside of Kansas City. He added it will also allow the firm to add new engineering and customer support staff.
“I’m really looking forward to improving our residents lifestyle through unique connected services offered via the Homebase platform,” Miller said. “We are a IoT smart home provider, but to me it’s not really about the “things,” like smart locks, as it is the type of experience we can deliver to our residents.
Since February, Homebase has been conducting beta testing of the platform with Marvel Properties in apartment communities around the Kansas City area. Homebase is also designing multiple smart communities concepts that are currently under construction in Kansas City and Austin, Texas, with planned delivery in the second half of 2017.
The Homebase tech is taking on a big market opportunity. Research from the NMMC suggests that the U.S. will need 4.6 million new apartments by 2030.
2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
DivvyHQ founders named finalists for prestigious EY Award
The two men leading the fast-growing tech startup DivvyHQ have been named finalists for the Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 Award in the Central Midwest. DivvyHQ co-founders Brody Dorland and Brock Stechman both were named finalists for the award on Thursday, lending credence to the duo’s tech. DivvyHQ created a planning and collaboration platform…
Effort hopes to rebuild eastern KC neighborhood by reviving jazz roots
Since the 1920s, jazz has built a reputation for Kansas City. About 90 years later, a local organization is hoping the power of jazz can rebuild Kansas City. Led by co-founders and spouses Daniel and Ebony Edwards, KC Jazz LP is working to establish Kansas City as the jazz recording capital of the world while…
After St. Joseph tech firm acquisition, Online Tech expands to KC
Ann Arbor-based Online Tech has acquired a St. Joseph, Mo. cloud firm, paving the way for its expansion into Kansas City. The cloud security company announced Thursday that it purchased St. Joseph-based Echo Cloud, which provides colocation and cloud hosting services. Echo Cloud CEO Bill Severn said he’s pleased to be joining the Online Tech…
Before and after: Tour progress at KC’s massive coworking campus, Westport Commons
Launched in 2015, Plexpod Westport Commons recently opened its doors after completing phase one of the project to revamp a middle school to become a coworking campus. Opened in April, the 160,000 square-foot, formerly vacant Westport Middle School has new life as a huge coworking space that will house more than 500 people and dozens…