Our friends at Newark Venture Partners (NVP), the venture fund catalyzing innovation in Newark, hosted demo day for its latest cohort of startups participating in its NVP Labs program. We had a chance to catch up with founders in the cohort and learn more about their businesses as they hit the stage. Here is a brief snapshot:
Bixby
Founded in 2016 in New York by Alexander Ohebshalom (Empire Management and NYU alum) and Mark Smukler (Apollo Global Management, Stephens Investment Banking, and NYU alum), Bixby is a web and mobile-based communications and payments platform that allows tenants and property managers to interact. Through the use of the platform, property managers are able to provide best in class service to their tenants and tenants are able to enjoy a host of value-added services and amenities from the building and third party partners that include Lemonade and Cleanly.
The pricing model is determined by number of units and ranges from free to $999 at the enterprise level with various add-ons available including smart locks and virtual concierges. With rents skyrocketing in the city, building managers can spend a small fraction of a single unit’s rental income to keep all their tenants happy with Bixby’s proptech solution. Several property management companies in the city including MD2 Management, Friedland Properties, and Novoum Properties are already customers.
Prior to their acceptance into NVP Labs, the startup had raised $200K in a convertible note from undisclosed investors in 2016.