Scott Moody has three goals. He wants to make life simpler, healthier and happier for older adults and people with disabilities. It’s a tall order, but he's got a few tricks up his sleeve. With a track record for developing groundbreaking technology and a new start-up currently being piloted, the co-founder of Apple's Touch ID technology is poised to make headlines again.
Moody co-founded AuthenTec, which was a mobile and network security company. Multinational technology giant Apple acquired the company for $356 million in cash in 2012. It was AuthenTec’s fingerprint technology, which became Apple's Touch ID technology, that started in the iPhone 5s and has been a feature of every iPhone and iPad since.
So it would make sense that the entrepreneur and inventor would move on to conquer new technological fronts in order to make more money and add to the searchability of his name. Not exactly. Moody decided instead to retire to North Carolina and enjoy the fruits of his labor.
But a mission trip to Rwanda and a chance meeting with a man suffering from MS would propel Moody back into the tech game and encourage him to use his talents and newfound riches to help others. He co-founded K4Connect in 2013, and after two early pilots, the company’s first product, K4Community is now live in multiple senior living communities as they expand nationwide. Moody expects the technology to go nationwide very soon.
In Rwanda, Moody met Jennifer (he preferred to withhold her last name), a mission worker who had started 15 orphanages there with plans to build more using the proceeds from a bakery and coffee shop she started to employ battered women. “I had helped other startups but then I met someone like Jennifer, and I was completely embarrassed. I mean, I thought, 'What am I doing? I have been incredibly blessed in life. I owe,'” Moody said.
So then the question was not whether he would give back, but how he would go about doing it. “I’m not the type to buy a hammer and start building homes. To be honest, I probably own a hammer, but I don’t know where it is. I talked to my wife and we thought I could use proceeds from a new company to help others. That’s how K4 started.”
K4Connect is based in Raleigh, N.C., where Moody had intended to retire, and what is commonly referred to as “The Triangle”, a three-city hub that has attracted some of the biggest up-and-coming startups in the country.
K4Connect is named for Moody's wife Katherine and his three daughters, Kelsey, Kristin and Kourtney. It's a mission-centered technology company that helps older adults and individuals with disabilities via a connected-life software suite that brings together the best in home automation products, health and wellness technologies and communication and social functionality.
The company announced last October that it had raised $8 million in venture capital, led by Intel Capital. Other investors included RGAx, LLC, a subsidiary of Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (NYSE: RGA), a global provider of life and health-related reinsurance with over $10B in revenue, and Traverse Venture Partners, a growth equity platform focused on accelerating the transition to more productive, flexible and valuable real estate, including senior living communities. All of the Company’s seed-stage fund investors also participated, including Sierra Ventures, Stonehenge Growth Equity, Lowe’s Corporation and Better Ventures.
Moody said K4Connect is using those funds to grow K4Community, which was designed specifically for the residents and operators of senior living communities, and to serve a technologically underserved population. The market for the product is huge. There are approximately 46 million seniors living in the U.S. today and some 1.4 million live in nursing homes or assisted living facilities. That number is expected to double by 2060, he said.
“Advancements in technology for elder care are more important than ever, Moody said. "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. That’s an enormous segment of society currently underserved by technology.”
In the beginning, it was all about the “smart home” or the “Internet of things,” Moody said. But, he said he had no idea how powerful the idea and his technology could be until he met Eric, an advocate for the homeless and an individual living with MS. He said Eric told him, "'I have about 1,000 good steps in my day, and how I use those steps defines the quality of my life. You guys can make my life better.'"
Moody said Eric reminded him what it was like for someone who suffers from MS just to come home in the evening. Moody started thinking of all of the ways he could make Eric’s life easier, like if he could design software that would turn on the lights, adjust the temperature and turn off the security system alarms, just for starters.
K4Connect allows users to control such things as lights and temperature in their homes.
(Photo Courtesy of K4Connect.)“It was with [Eric’s] words that it became clear that we found our purpose, that the technologies we were developing could solve real and significant problems for an underserved part of our worldwide community,” Moody said. “From that day forward, our mission at K4Connect has been to create solutions that serve and empower older adults and individuals living with disabilities, enhancing their lives by integrating the latest in smart technologies into a single responsive system. Bottom line – we believe technology should be purposeful, person-centric and harmonious.”
According to K4Connect.com, K4Community integrates the latest in smart technologies into a single responsive platform, enabling smarter living environments and healthier lives, while also fostering family and community engagement for senior living residents. “With a single touch, community residents can control their apartments, stay connected with loved ones through photo sharing or video chats and stay more engaged in community activities through event calendars and newsletters. K4Community also benefits operators of these communities by allowing them to provide the best in care and hospitality with value-added amenities while increasing revenues and lowering costs.”
Sierra Ventures and Stonehenge Growth Equity were also investors in AuthenTec, the fingerprint sensor technology company co-founded by Moody that remains the only public company ever acquired by Apple. Its technologies are now the foundation for Apple’s Touch ID.
According to AuthenTec’s LinkedIn page, the company’s diverse product and technology offering sought to protect individuals and organizations through secure networking, content and data protection, access control and strong fingerprint security on PCs and mobile devices. It’s encryption technology, fingerprint sensors and identity management software were deployed by leading mobile device, networking and computing companies, content and service providers and governments throughout the world.
AuthenTec’s products included mobile security, network security, fingerprint sensors, embedded security, DRM Content Protection, VPN security, SSL Security and semiconductor IP. The company has shipped more than 100 million fingerprint sensors for integration in a wide range of portable electronics including over 20 million mobile phones. Some of the company’s top customers included Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Fujitsu, HBO, HP, Lenovo, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Orange, Samsung, Sky and Texas Instruments.
In January, K4Connect announced its latest version of K4Community. The “connected-life” software platform or suite is specifically designed for senior living communities and is able to rapidly incorporate the latest advances in technology, as well as feedback from community residents and staff while simultaneously providing the community staff the tools to provide improved care and hospitality.
Some of the new features of the K4Community Version 1.5 application include:
- A complete resident directory with contact information
- Expanded community news and content
- New and improved games
- A redesigned and easier to use tablet keyboard
- Enhanced photo sharing capabilities for family, friends and the community
- Simplified temperature management controls including the new “Magic Air”
- “Quick Replies” for messaging
- Voice calling features, in addition to the existing video call capabilities
- In-app direct connections to the K4Community Client Services Team
- “How-to” educational videos
- Overall User Interface (UI) and performance improvements
New features available to staff and operators via the community dashboards include:
- Expanded content management system with easy upload features
- Improved resident management capabilities
- Enhanced staff optimization analytics
- Expanded facilities management capabilities
But Moody said the K4Community really begins with the people who use the technology—the residents of a senior living facility—by fulfilling his three goals of making life simpler, healthier and happier, making it easier for them to manage their homes, keep up with their health, stay engaged with their communities and communicate with their families and friends.
Moody said the K4Community can simplify daily activities by reducing falls and improving safety. It can help with health management by providing insights on activity, medication plans and even connecting to health products such as pedometers and scales. And it can help individuals engage with family, friends and community through video, photos, messaging and events, enabling them to stay socially active and connected.
K4Community is made up of everyday products, from light switches to thermostats, that all work together, responding to an individual’s personal needs and wants. The software also gives individuals access to all community information and events, from dining menus to community activity calendars and announcements. And it's all done on a tablet.
The technology of K4Community will work on any tablet, Moody said, so there is no need to purchase expensive equipment, and one system simplifies things dramatically. “All you need is a tablet, and you can slowly add products to the system. It could be a light switch, thermostat or door bell. You could buy 10 different apps that have 10 different interfaces that look completely different. An 80-year-old does not want to deal with it. So what we do is bring all of those devices, apps and even systems together into a single app so that it is easier to use and works together,” Moody said.
Later this year, K4Connect hopes to roll out its newest software with K4Life. “It brings together every aspect of life into one system,” Moody said. “We will be piloting it later this year and hope to have it out next year.” He said the company is working with insurance companies now to hopefully make the technology part of an insurance package that could be offered. “It really behooves the insurance companies because it will drive down their costs in the end.”
Moody said K4Life will be able to keep track of blood pressure, remind the user to take medications and keep track of weight, among other things. It will be over and above the K4Community applications. “It will all be managed through our system, and the way you access it is through a tablet.”
For more information about K4Connect, K4Community and K4Life, visit www.k4connect.com.
