Wearable tech startup Strap raises $1.25M
Strap – an Over-the-Rhine-based software development firm and Brandery graduate – has raised more than $1 million in seed investments.
Venture development organization and startup investor CincyTech led the $1.25 million round of funding. Mercury Fund, Vine Street Ventures, Danmar Capital, Hyde Park Venture Partners, New Coast Ventures and angel investors including Cintrifuse chief executive Wendy Lea also invested in the firm.
Officials from Strap say the money will fuel product development and enhance its ability to forge partnerships with developers, companies and brands.
"We are very fortunate to have a great group of investment partners on board with us," said Strap CEO Steve Caldwell. "The wearables market is poised for hockey-stick growth in the next 12 months, but challenges of fragmentation and increasing data points make it very difficult for existing app developers and stakeholders to jump in with both feet.
"We are in a perfect position to grow our world-class suite of tools and platforms to lower the barrier to entry in the growing wearables ecosystem."
The company has already developed Strap Metrics and Strap Kit. In what may be the first analytics platform for wearable technology devices, Strap Metrics makes it easier to view the sensory data that devices capture. Strap Kit allows developers to write applications in JavaScript and deploy it across multiple platforms.
Strap is available for Pebble, Android Wear and Glass, and will soon add support for Tizen and Apple Watch.
CincyTech is a Downtown-based public-private venture development organization that invests in tech startups in Southwest Ohio.
"Strap has created an important layer of software that has to exist for wearable tech to work," said CincyTech Managing Director Mike Venerable. "Developers need it, big companies need it. It allows developers to focus on functionality for the end user."
Steve Caldwell, Patrick Henshaw and Joey Brennan founded Strap in Mississippi in early 2014. The founders moved to Cincinnati to join the region's startup community and the company graduated from The Brandery's seed stage accelerator program a few months ago.
Caldwell is an information technology professional and software developer and Henshaw is a West Point engineering graduate and former Army Ranger.
"The startup community is strong here and has been validated. Modulus, Roadtrippers and other Brandery graduates have been successful here," Henshaw said. "It goes without saying that costs are lower, but what really attracts us to Cincinnati is the energy around the startup tech community. Just like OTR is experiencing a revitalization, the tech industry here is getting a ton of care and attention as it grows, attracting the right talent and money along the way."
In conjunction with the funding, angel investors Charlie Key and Brandon Cannaday will take an advisory board seat. Key and Cannaday founded the firm Modulus, which previously graduated from The Brandery and was acquired by Massachusetts-based Progress Software in June.
"Developer tools is an underrated industry and it can be tough to get attention from investors," Key said. "What stood out to me about Strap is the founders' technical background. They've seen and understood the problem they're going after. They really have all the pieces – intelligence, work ethic, and they're also extremely likeable, genuine people."