2019 Startups to Watch: Homebase building smart tech for a connected world
January 14, 2019 | Austin Barnes
Editor’s note: Startland selected 12 Kansas City firms to spotlight for its annual Startups to Watch list. The following is one of 2019’s companies. Click here to view the full, ranked list of Startups to Watch.
Homebase’s elevator pitch: Homebase.ai is a smart living, residence experience platform powered by the Internet of Things for apartments and student housing.
Homebase.ai aims to make Kansas City smarter, Blake Miller said with confidence.
Founder: Blake Miller
Founding year: 2016
Amount raised to date: $2 million
Noteworthy investors: JE Dunn, Sunflower Development, The Brain Family
Programs completed: Kansas City Innovation Partnership Program
Current employee count: 22
“You’ve got the traditional property management software and then you’ve got the new Internet of Things and smart home, smart building technology,” said Miller, founder of Homebase. “We’re kind of right in the middle of that where we’re bridging the gap. That’s where some of the major disruption happens, because we can automate a lot of processes.”
Committed to the development of smart cities, Miller formerly led the public-private partnership that honed the Kansas City Smart City initiative. The experience has made him no stranger to building businesses with innovative legs, he said humbly, noting that startups have become his life.
“The smart city framework that got deployed as a part of the first phase along the street car, was a framework of connectivity. We were putting in public wifi sensors, things like smart lighting and all these sorts of things as well as resident engagement applications.” he said of smart city innovation in Kansas City. “We are now applying that into buildings, which are basically like a microcosm [of smart living.]”
Click here for more about Miller’s work with smart cities.
Blake Miller
Miller’s presence on the founding teams of such startups as Think Big Partners has also helped him gain necessary leadership qualities that could guide Homebase toward becoming a force for disruption, he said.
“We’re going to make people happier,” Miller said. “We’re going to help make property owners a lot more money. We’re going to because all of our cities are made up of buildings and being able to be a part of that, those things are really important to Homebase. But you know what, we really recognize it and we literally are creating a future. That’s what really motivates us.”
Breaking traditional molds, Homebase solidified its base as a company of the future in 2018, Miller said in reference to the company’s presence in more than 15 buildings — now wired as smart spaces — compared to just one in 2017, he explained.
“That sets us apart from a lot of our competitors who are really focusing more on just trying to have the smart home inside of an apartment and not thinking about the entire smart building,” Miller said
Powering up through momentum gained in 2018, Homebase could add as many as 30 buildings to its smart portfolio in 2019 — all of which are currently under construction and set to come alive by early 2020 — Miller said.
1) Bungii
2) ShotTracker
3) RiskGenius
4) Metactive
5) Pepper IoT
6) Signal Kit
7) Life Equals
8) Bellwethr
9) Homebase.ai
10) Tea-Biotics Kombucha
11) SquareOffs
12) Zohr
2019 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Housing trends show young professionals don’t care about Troost’s stigma, UC-B says
Lance Carlton initially was skeptical of developing east of Troost Avenue, he said. “But the mentality of the market has changed,” said Carlton, co-managing partner of UC-B Properties, which brought its offices to the 4300 block of Troost in August 2016. The company helped prove an appetite for residential development on the corridor with 19…
Mac Properties plans four-corner food startup village at Armour and Troost
Mac Properties’ Kansas City arm wants to turn a “sleepy intersection” on Troost into a four-corner incubator for thriving residential and restaurant activity. The vision is to create a “food startup village” as the foundation of the development, which would bring 400 new market rate apartments to Armour Boulevard and Troost, said Peter Cassel, director…
Wonder developers eye emerging businesses and creatives for Troost
Business is brewing at the former Wonder Bread bakery. With a flurry of activity at 30th and Troost, the historic site is undergoing a transformation: from yet another vacant space on the corridor to an anchor for residential and commercial life on Troost. “They’ve gutted the inside and they’ve done a ton of work,” said…
You don’t have to pick a side, neighbor-led Troost Coalition says
It’s about bringing residents back to Troost Avenue, Cathryn Simmons said. And that means challenging the status quo. “This used to be a free-for-all. Troost was the Wild Wild West of Kansas City,” she said. “You could come over here and do anything you wanted. Legally.” A founding member of the Troost Coalition, Simmons helped…