One of the big issues with the smart home is that so many of the country’s tech lovers aren’t living in homes. Dwelo is designing large-scale smart home solutions built for renters living in apartments.
The startup’s system allows building owners to integrate things like smart locks, lights and thermostats into their units while renters are given a Dwelo app and hub that allows them to control it all. Support is all handled through the app so managers also won’t get a call every time a light bulb gets fidgety.
Today, the Provo, Utah-based company announced that it has closed a $4.9 million round led by Peterson Ventures. Dwelo has raised $9.7 million in funding to date.
“We’ve seen explosive demand for what we’ve brought to the market and are thrilled to provide renters as well as the operators of rental real estate with access to the benefits of smart home technology,” said Dwelo CEO Michael Rovito said in a statement.
In addition to obvious advantages like preventing building managers from dealing with lockouts all the time, Dwelo could be in an interesting position to serve apartment communities in a way that apps like Nextdoor haven’t succeeded in yet. With every renter in a building using a single app to power their apartment, there’s obviously some opportunity there to become a central hub for other community relationships, Rovito says this is something the startup is continuing to work on.
Dwelo makes money by charging for the initial installs of the smart apartment hardware, which can either be done during construction or as a retrofit, but it also runs subscription pricing for apartment managers on the renter app and ongoing support for tenants.
The company is in several U.S. markets at the moment with around 100 apartment communities on the tech platform, the company will be using the funding to continue to expand its reach.