The decade to get here was often tough, but a rapidly expanding locally based startup is now LiveEasy.
The former MoveEasy is on track to triple revenue and hit profitability this year, co-founder and CEO Venkatesh Ganapathy said, and aims to surpass $10 million revenue next year for its growing platform of concierge services for utilities and home maintenance.
With Thursday's rebrand, it's adding a dashboard for renters, fully rolling out its homeowners' portal from a pilot group and making it easier for outside vendors to pick and choose pieces of the software to adopt.
"We are truly addressing any living situation," Ganapathy said in an interview. "It's the one place we want you to look at to manage your home.
"There will always be tweaking – if we stop innovating, there's a problem," he said. "Foundationally, we have all the pieces now."
Distributed largely through some 150,000 real estate agents – and now multi- and single-family property managers – LiveEasy also has released easier ways for outside companies to adopt individual tools and widgets from the software, such as insurance quotes.
One of Columbus Inno's Startups to Watch for 2023, the Grandview Heights company exponentially expanded its potential audience with those moves.
Incorporated as Move EZ Inc., although that could also change to LiveEasy, the company started as quote generation for moving companies and over several pivots evolved into a comprehensive homebuying and home maintenance platform. It even reminds users when to change furnace filters.
The new renters' dashboard omits some services unique to homeowners, but includes reminders for the maintenance required of single-family house renters, like lawn-mowing. A "my next move" feature can connect a tenant to a real estate agent when they're ready to buy.
Last year the company raised $10.5 million through two rounds, and has 78 employees. Even as revenue is growing, future fundraising might be necessary to accelerate expansion to new industries, Ganapathy said.
Co-founders Ganapahty and COO Niraj Patel through the years listened to real estate brokers and other customers to add more services.
"As we started to build tools, ... it became less about moving and more about living," he said. "It's not a single transactional piece and you're done; it's more about relationship management."
LiveEasy is free to users and agents or other distributors. Revenue comes from commissions when services are bought through the platform. Its vendors include large insurers, telecom and internet providers like AT&T and Verizon, and ADT home security.
So far the platform has generated a combined $57 million in revenue for its partners. Vendors also offer discounts to LiveEasy users, because of their average 3% cancellation rate.e.
Over the last 15 months, homeowners have saved a collective $9.8 million, an average $400 per household, through discounts and following LiveEasy's recommendations, such as switching energy providers or eliminating duplicate streaming services.
Ganapathy is aiming to pass the $100 million revenue mark in five years.
The target audience is now all 190 million homes and apartments in the country, plus eventual entry into Canada, he said: "A brand synonymous with managing where you live."
