Flush with funds, home security tech startup MyGate goes on expansion spree

After raising Rs 400 crore from Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings and others, MyGate, a company which provides technology to enhance security and convenience for residents in gated premises, is expanding to other parts of India. The company has forayed into Gujarat, where the Bengaluru-based startup has run a successful pilot in Ahmedabad over the past three months, during which it was adopted by over 14,000 homes across 100 gated communities. MyGate's mobile-based solution will now also be available in the cities of Surat, Rajkot, Gandhinagar and Vadodara.

"With a large number of gated communities in a number of its cities, Gujarat is a strategic market in our expansion plan. Our initial pilot in Ahmedabad has received a phenomenal acceptance, leading to a wave of inbound demand from nearby cities as well," said Abhishek Kumar, CEO and co-founder, MyGate. "We have massively scaled up our team in the region over the past month and are now geared to serve up our solution to the 18,000-plus gated communities in the state."

The company is aiming to secure 150,000 homes across the state over the coming 12 months. Some of the popular communities in Gujarat where MyGate is already present are Kalhaar Bungalows, Ratnaakar Beaumonde, Aryaman Bungalows, Paarijat Eclat and Basant Bahar Bungalows. MyGate has an on-ground team in Ahmedabad and is in the process of setting up teams in Gujarat's other major cities as well.

MyGate is a mobile-app-based system that enhances security and convenience for residents of gated communities by digitizing and automating their manual tasks. With MyGate, all entries and exits are approved and logged digitally, with complete visibility and control to the residents. The firm also offers several advanced capabilities such as e-intercom (automatic visitor authentication), child safety alerts and staff and vehicle management. The company said it also helps resident welfare associations (RWAs) to manage their society accounting, payments from residents, help desk and other value adds.

“MyGate has been a game-changing solution for our community. It has elevated security standards by ensuring that no one can enter without permission while also making the entry process easier for us and the security personnel,” said Sunil Agrawal, Treasurer, Association at Malabar County 2.

MyGate said its technology is used by over 1.2 million homes in over 5000 gated communities. The solution is available in 13 major cities, including Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune.

Home security tech startup MyGate raises Rs 400 cr in series B funding

MyGate, a company which provides technology to enhance security and convenience for residents in gated premises has raised $56 million (about Rs 400 crore) in series B funding. The investment has come from Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings, US-based JS Capital LLC, Tiger Global Management alongside existing investor, Prime Venture Partners.

MyGate plans to use the funding to create innovative solutions for eliminating friction in interactions between the home and the outside world and providing convenience and security to its users. The funds raised would also help the firm focus on increasing the efficiency of other stakeholders such as security personnel, local service providers and e-commerce companies. The startup, which has over 700 employees spread across all of India’s metros, is also planning to triple its workforce over the next two quarters.

“It (gated community) is a big market. There are over 100,000 communities in the top 11 metros,” said Shreyans Daga, co-founder and director at MyGate. “There are also thousands of communities in tier-2 and tier-3 cities and they are even coming up in my hometown Bikaner (in Rajasthan),” said Daga. He said the company was providing an affordable solution which cost Rs 20-25 per month for a flat.

A former project head at tech giant Oracle, Daga, co-founded MyGate in 2016 along with Vijay Arisetty, an ex-IAF pilot (Shaurya Chakra awardee) and Abhishek K, former VP at Goldman Sachs.

“We started MyGate to solve for the real problem of security and inconvenience faced by households every day,” said Vijay Arisetty, chief executive and co-founder, MyGate.

MyGate has seen 5x growth over the past year and is now present in 1.2 million homes across 11 cities in India. Residents of these homes use the app to communicate with neighbours, manage visitors such as guests, as well as deliveries and cabs. They are also able to maintain attendance record and salary payments for daily helps, discover services and pay society maintenance bills. MyGate processes over 60,000 requests per minute and facilitates over 45 million check-in requests every month.

“Right from the first time I experienced MyGate as a customer just two years ago, it’s been great to see a fledgling startup execute consistently and holistically, and grow into a category-creating market-leader,” said Sanjay Swamy, managing partner, Prime Venture Partners.

MyGate had earlier raised $11.5 million over two rounds of funding. In May 2019, the company also announced partnerships with several major e-commerce brands, including Swiggy, Zomato, Grofers and Dunzo, to make possible a silent and secure delivery experience for its users. With over 170,000 guards trained on its platform and successful implementation of artificial intelligence to speed up authentication procedures, MyGate said it was uniquely positioned to enable the digital transformation of the $20 billion private security industry.

The firm said its success and rapid uptake could be attributed to the dire need of a security solution that was robust, innovative and easy to use. Currently, over 45 million people reside in gated communities, a number that is growing at 13 per cent year-on-year. For this demographic, the importance of a solution to manage interactions with the home is increasing rapidly, particularly as greater number of goods and services arrive at the doorstep.

“We believe that their (MyGate) deep product focus and technological prowess will enable them to build solutions that bring positive gains to the entire ecosystem,” said Salil Seshadri, chief investment officer, JS Capital LLC.