K4Connect, a company that transforms community apartments and residences into smart homes, has raised $1.9 million in seed funding to launch its first product.
With new home automation products appearing on the market daily, K4Connect says it is the first company to bring them together in an integrated solution specifically designed and developed to meet the evolving needs of the rapidly growing, though underserved, senior living market.
That market is expected to double in the next 15 years.
The company’s patent-pending software platform integrates disparate smart devices, systems and technologies into a single system. This makes it easier for seniors to use and gives community staff and operators actionable resident data and analytics to help improve quality of care and customer satisfaction.
Investors in the seed round include: Silicon Valley-based Sierra Ventures and Better Ventures; North Carolina-based Lowe’s Companies Inc.; and Florida’sStonehenge Growth Equity Partners. Individuals including Stephen Morton, President and COO of Signature Senior Living, and Chris Regan, a patent attorney with Allen, Dyer, Doppelt, Milbrath & Gilchrist, P.A., as well as two other unnamed investors have committed funds for K4Connect’s growth.
ierra Ventures and Stonehenge previously invested in AuthenTec, the fingerprint sensor technology company co-founded by K4Connect CEO F. Scott Moody. AuthenTec’s technology is now the foundation for Apple’s Touch ID.
“K4Connect’s first product is bridging the gap between smart technologies and the 43 million seniors living in the United States. The company’s focus on improving quality of life for seniors will be essential as our population ages,” said Ben Yu, managing director of Sierra Ventures in a statement.
Moody told the Triangle Business Journal the company is hiring.
On the web: www.k4connect.com
