Latch Inc., a smart security firm that last year relocated its headquarters to St. Louis, on July 4 will launch an app designed to help residential building operators reduce their operating costs and better manage their facilities, while also streamlining various processes for residents.
The company’s app will build upon its existing products and software by introducing an artificial intelligence assistant, dubbed the Doorman, to oversee a building’s operations, “from monitoring for running toilets or door left open in freezing weather to requesting maintenance on appliances,” the company said.
Latch, which was founded in 2014 and will soon rebrand to Door, declined to share how much it invested in building out its app. Pricing will vary based on the integration of its products, which include smart locks for residential buildings, as well as software designed to allow residents to access their units and to help building operators manage their facilities.
“The Doorman knows the unique things about your building, never gets tired, and truly raises the bar in assisting residents and property managers,” Chief Executive Jamie Siminoff said in a statement. “We are expanding upon Latch’s core technology to deliver the residential living experience people expect in today’s world. Just as we can track the status of our food delivery, residents want to know when the plumber will arrive to fix their leaky pipe or how busy the gym in their building is.”
Siminoff previously founded Honest Day's Work, which Latch acquired in November. The company focused on providing technology for residential services providers such as housekeepers, dog walkers and contractors. Prior, Siminoff was founder and former CEO of home security company Ring, which in 2018 was acquired by Amazon for $1 billion-plus.
Through Latch's upcoming app, residents and managers can access real-time information about a building’s common areas, such as seeing how busy a gym, pool or co-working space is, powered by a one-time purchase of a $15 sensor that has a five-year battery life, the company said. And residents will be able to reserve spaces directly from the app, while managers will be able to charge for amenity bookings, adding new revenue streams and enhancing the building’s net operating income, it added.
Latch, in addition to its app, on July 4 will launch Door Services, a platform similar to Honest Day's Work that allows users to search for and book local contractors, such as dog walkers and cleaners. It will additionally allow residents to submit maintenance requests for their apartments and receive real-time status updates, the company said.
This launch comes after the company last year relocated its headquarters to St. Louis from New York.
Latch in September said it would open its 48,000-square-foot headquarters at 1220 N. Price Road in Olivette. The company at that time had 16 employees in St. Louis, a figure it has since grown to almost 40, it said Tuesday.
The company in March acquired the property management business of The Broadway Co., a Boston-based real estate investment and management company. It created Door Property Management LLC with the deal, a new entity that will manage a “small portfolio of units” in the Boston metropolitan area.
Latch became a publicly traded company in 2021 through a merger with special purpose acquisition company TS Innovation Acquisition Corp., in a deal that valued Latch at $1.56 billion. Latch traded on the Nasdaq exchange, but it is being delisted by Nasdaq due to its inability to meet filing requirements. Its stock is currently listed on the OTC Expert Market.
