K4Connect raises $1.9 million to launch smart technology for senior living communities with a product to improve quality of care, streamlining community operations, and most importantly, to help make residents’ lives simpler, healthier and happier.
Raleigh, N.C. – October 12, 2015 – K4Connect, a user-centric technology integration company, announced today that it has raised $1.9 million in a seed round to support the launch of its debut product for senior living communities. The product, K4Community, transforms community apartments and residences into smart homes that are responsive to individual residents’ needs and preferences via a single easy-to-use application. With new home automation products appearing on the market daily, K4Connect 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.
The senior market, which is expected to double in size over the next 15 years, is prime for an influx of new technologies and investments. The momentum in the market is evidenced by strong support for K4Connect from several leading investors, including: Silicon Valley-based Sierra Ventures and Better Ventures; North Carolina-based Lowe’s Companies, Inc.; and Florida’s Stonehenge Growth Equity Partners. 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.
Sierra Ventures and Stonehenge were previous investors 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. Similarly, Regan previously served as outside patent counsel for AuthenTec, which had more than 200 patents when acquired by Apple in 2012.
“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. “We could not be more excited to reinvest in an entrepreneur like Scott. Much like our prior investment in him and the team at AuthenTec, we see K4Connect solving a global problem by making extremely complex technology accessible to everyday consumers.”
“By putting the residents’ needs first, there is no doubt that K4Community is making a material difference in peoples’ lives,” said Morton, co-founder of Southern Assisted Living, whose 40 senior living communities were acquired by Brookdale in 2006. “My experience in this industry has taught me that the products that empower seniors themselves are the ones that succeed, and that is what I see here.”
The company’s patent-pending software platform seamlessly integrates disparate smart devices, systems and technologies into a single responsive system. This makes life simpler and healthier for seniors, while arming community staff and operators with actionable resident data and analytics to help improve quality of care and customer satisfaction.
“The overwhelmingly positive support we have received from investors confirms that K4Connect will be important to the future of senior care,” said Moody. “As more of America’s 75 million baby boomers transition to retirement, senior living communities need new ways to distinguish themselves from competitors. Our product improves quality of care, streamlines community operations, and most importantly, helps make residents’ lives simpler, healthier and happier.”