Two years after top KC startup’s sale, Zego (and its new owner) acquired for nearly $1B
June 18, 2021 | Startland News Staff
The company that acquired Kansas City-based Zego in 2019 — and liked the real estate tech startup’s brand so much it changed its own identity to match — has itself now been purchased by a global “powerhouse” in an all-cash transaction valued at $925 million.
Zego delivers its full value stack through a cloud native SaaS platform to enable seamless property management and best-in-class resident engagement and commerce experiences.
The company has significant scale with over 7,000 property management customers representing more than 11 million residential units in the United States utilizing its comprehensive real estate technology platform.
Through its integrated payments offering, Zego facilitates approximately $30 billion in payments annually in a market with a volume opportunity that exceeds $1 trillion.
Zego — formerly PayLease — announced the acquisition by Global Payments, a leading worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions, June 10. (The 18-year-old San Diego company had rebranded to “Zego” about nine months after absorbing the exiting Kansas City startup, which was originally built in Kansas City by co-founders Adam Blake and Clay Coffman as a solution in the smart apartment space.)
“Today marks a monumental moment in Zego (Powered by PayLease) history as we embark on our next exciting chapter,” Zego representatives said in a press release after this month’s acquisition. “This transaction extends Global Payments’ leadership in software into the real estate vertical.”
Global Payments is headquartered in Georgia with nearly 24,000 employees worldwide.
The deal is not expected to disrupt services for current customers or residents, the company said, noting it pushes Zego closer to international expansion.
As a co-founder, Blake shifted into an advisor role with PayLease until December 2019 before taking time off to spend with his family and serve a handful of early stage companies in advisory roles.
Coffman served as director of product management for Zego (Powered by PayLease) until July 2020, moving into an advisor position with the company until December 2020.
“I think we did a good job showing outside investors there are venture-backable companies in KC,” Blake told Startland News in 2019. “We had a handful that invested in Kansas City for the first time.”
An inaugural Techstars Kansas City graduate founded as “CasaiQ,” the Kansas City-built Zego’s early investors ran the spectrum of the local and national investment scene: The KCRise Fund, Techstars Ventures, Zoloz CEO Toby Rush, and ShotTracker co-founder Davyeon Ross.
Featured Business
2021 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
More downtown eats: Chef-driven food hall joining Made in KC on Lightwell’s ground floor
Nearly two years after details of a chef collective at Lightwell were first teased, developers today announced the popular urban Johnson County food experience Strang Hall will indeed open a second location in downtown Kansas City. “Like the original Strang Hall in downtown Overland Park, the concept will be a casual, modern space designed for…
Menufy sale scales HungerRush to more than 500 workers, 20,000 restaurants, KC co-founder says
Growth isn’t new to the menu for Menufy’s Leawood based team, said Sharmil Desai, noting the online platform for restaurants had grown to 140 employees before its freshly announced acquisition by HungerRush. “I can’t think of any point when Menufy has not been adding and expanding,” Desai, co-founder and CEO of Menufy, told Startland News.…
How a new stadium planned for Kansas City’s riverfront could redefine ‘long-neglected’ neighborhood
A $70 million project along Kansas City’s riverfront is expected to be the first stadium purpose-built for a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team, Kansas City NWSL owners announced Tuesday, unveiling early plans for the 11,000-seat complex just north of downtown. “The goals for reclaiming our long-neglected riverfront have been bold but clear – develop…
Leawood-based online restaurant platform Menufy acquired by hungry Houston cloud company
A rapidly scaling Leawood tech company that helped dozens of Kansas City restaurants, as well as eateries across 3,000 other cities, survive the pandemic has sold to a Houston-based cloud software provider for the restaurant industry. Menufy’s vast online food ordering platform and network is expected to be incorporated into the HungerRush 360 cloud POS…