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
Kansas City scores $50K to inject innovation into education
Kansas City recently snagged a $50,000 grant that aims to fuel the development of a passionate, 21st-century workforce. The City of Fountains was named one of eight winners of the national LRNG City Challenge. As a result, the KC Social Innovation Center will use the grant to implement new programming this summer. The LRNG platform…
Kansas City creativity sticks out among the weirdest in Austin
At the tech and innovation conference South by Southwest Interactive, it’s as easy for companies to blend in as the flyers littering the streets of Austin. But amid the sea of commercial chaos — where hundreds of companies big and small fiercely fight for the most fleeting of interactions — Kansas City stood towering like the Liberty…
Events Preview: Meet 2016 Sprint Accelerator Founders
There are a boatload of entrepreneurial events hosted in Kansas City on a weekly basis. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, investor, supporter or curious Kansas Citian, we’d recommend these upcoming events for you. WEEKLY EVENT PREVIEW Meet the Founders: 2016 Sprint Accelerator When: March 22 @ 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm Where: Sprint Accelerator Join us for a casual…
Listen to Startland’s bonkers SXSW experience
Virtual reality, smart cities and a whole lot of habaneros. There was more to Startland’s adventure to Austin, Texas, for South by Southwest — but those three items were certainly some memorable highlights. The Startland team spent five nights in Austin, taking in the insanity that is SXSW. We saw a ton of incredible technology — virtual…