K4Connect, a Raleigh, North Carolina-based maker of an Internet-of-Things platform for older adults and people with disabilities, raised $8 million in a new round of funding led by Intel Capital. RGAx, a subsidiary of the Reinsurance Group of America, also contributed as did Traverse Venture Partners. Returning investors include Sierra Ventures, Stonehenge Growth Equity, Lowe’s Corporation and Better Ventures.
“There are close to 1.5 billion older adults and people living with disabilities in the world today, a market segment expected to grow to nearly 28 percent of the world’s population by 2050,” Scott Moody, cofounder and CEO of K4Connect, said in a statement. “That’s an enormous segment of society currently underserved by technology. Our solutions, of which K4Community is just the first, empower those we serve to live simpler, healthier and happier lives.”
K4Community is a platform that integrates different smart technologies into a platform that's easy to use for its target audience of older people. This includes connected lights and appliances as well as health and fitness devices; the K4Community starter kit includes a Garmin activity tracker and allows the user to view fitness data on the system's tablet. The company sells the system to retirement communities as well as to individuals.
Founder Moody has an impressive resume: his previous company, AuthenTec, was acquired by Apple and became the basis for the company's TouchID technology.
Intel's investment in K4Connect came as part of an announcement of $38 million invested in 12 tech startups last week. The announcement was made at the chip giant's Intel Capital Global Summit in San Diego, California.
"K4Connect puts the power of technology to work in a way that benefits the lives of older adults and people living with disabilities,” said Doug Davis, senior vice president and general manager of the Internet of Things (IoT) Group at Intel Corp. “Bringing smarter connections and innovative technologies to new places and underserved users aligns with Intel’s vision for the future of how we live and work across all sectors.”
