CasaiQ announces name change, high-profile investors in $1.5M round
December 1, 2017 | Bobby Burch
Techstars Kansas City graduate CasaiQ is hoping a new funding round — and new name — will accelerate the development and deployment of its smart home tech.
Led by former Brightergy exec Adam Blake, CasaiQ announced Friday that it raised a $1.5 million round, which includes a handful of local investors. The KCRise fund, Techstars Ventures, Zoloz CEO Toby Rush, ShotTracker co-founder Davyeon Ross, S2 Capital CEO Scott Everett and other undisclosed investors joined in the round.
The firm also announced that it has changed names to become “Zego.”
“The new name – Zego – better represents who we are as we move beyond a smart home solution to more of a digital amenity platform,” Blake said in a release.
Zego has created a platform for apartment owners and managers to offer residents a digital amenity package, including smart home technology. Zego provides a mobile app to residents that enables them to control devices — such as smart locks, thermostats and lights — in their apartments and streamlines interactions with their property manager.
Zego’s property manager portal helps managers to control such devices as door locks and thermostats, helping to increase operational efficiency for maintenance staff and leasing agents.
“Smart homes, integrated services and enhanced user experiences packaged into a platform is a global opportunity over the next five to 10 years,” said Rush, CEO of Kansas City-based Zoloz. “Zego has an early-movers advantage in the U.S. with global scale in its future.”
Blake and Zego recently completed the three-month, mentor-led Techstars Kansas City program. At the program’s October demo day event, Blake announced that Zego had 9,000 apartment units under contract.
Founded in 2017, the company is currently hiring for five positions, including roles in customer service, software engineering and sales.
Featured Business
2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Target Hill Capital defusing risk on startups between friends and family, seed funding stages
An opportunity to deliver exponential impact in a community committed to entrepreneurship has resulted in the launch of Target Hill Capital –– an outside-the-box venture capital fund, Marshall Dougherty said. “When we were involved [with previous startups], we compared notes and surveyed the startup ecosystem in Kansas City,” Dougherty said of the events that led…
Lenexa-based Aloe soothes health insurance enrollment pains with human touch
A patient’s “wow” moment shouldn’t be when he or she opens a medical bill and discovers procedures that unexpectedly aren’t covered by insurance, said Andrew Belt, co-founder of Aloe. “People are frustrated — frustrated because they don’t understand how their coverage works or what’s included, and it doesn’t seem like anyone they talk to understands,”…
LendingStandard plans innovation upgrade with $2.5M investment from Flyover Capital
An investment in innovation has landed Kansas City-based LendingStandard $2.5 million in investment funds following the close of a Series A funding round led by Flyover Capital, CEO Andy Kallenbach said. “These are folks that are well-known in Kansas City and have had software businesses in the past, and that’s a really rare combination,” Kallenbach…
Don’t just play the game: MECA Challenge urges students to innovate ‘school of the future’
Challenging Kansas City students to envision “the school of the future” will usher in a paradigm shift wherein teens can see themselves as customers of school, said Katie Kimbrell optimistically. “[Students] don’t even think, ‘Oh, I could rethink this whole thing that I’m experiencing,’ and choose — or even demand — something different,” said Kimbrell,…