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
Digital Sandbox startup Fast Democracy building non-partisan social database for tracking legislation
Today’s political climate demands not only a better-informed public, but accurate tools to help voters arm themselves with timely information, said Sara Baker, co-founder of Fast Democracy. The Kansas City-based startup — one of four early-stage businesses recently accepted into Digital Sandbox KC — aims to help people “touch their democracy” through its non-partisan web…
Tech Scouts: Your pitch ideas could help defend the US; Aug. 12 application deadline nears
The U.S. Department of Defense isn’t just bullets and bombs, said Jack Harwell. A five-day October event — “Encountering Innovation,” which is organized by the DoD and the Small Business Development Center’s Kansas office — gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch innovative solutions to a panel of the DoD’s “tech scouts,” said Harwell, advisor at…
Flyover Capital celebrates $63 million sale of its second portfolio firm Agrible
In a deal that further validates the vibrancy of the Midwest tech scene, leaders at Kansas City-based Flyover Capital are lauding the sale of its second portfolio firm since its launch in 2014. Flyover — a venture capital firm whose mission is to fuel the next generation of tech startups in the Midwest — is…
Techweek KC speaker lineup spans blockchain and 3D printing to fintech and inclusion
Techweek KC has released a diverse docket of events, panels and speakers that aim to inspire and mobilize the area’s tech and entrepreneur community. Now in its fourth year, Techweek KC returns Oct. 8-12 with national tech, venture capital, nonprofit and blockchain leaders, said Drew Solomon, senior vice president of business development at the Economic…