Southeast startups are infiltrating customer’s homes – but in a good way. From improving the home hunting process to reimagining how we live in them, these companies are creating solutions for the burdensome tasks facing homeowners and renters.
How We Think About Finding a Home
1) Atlanta-based PadSplit brings affordable, innovative solutions to renters, making city-living more attainable through co-living options. The company works with cities that have increasingly low housing inventory to give workers more options in otherwise unaffordable locations. Founder Atticus LaBanc says that PadSplit aims to find “fast and cost-efficient ways to create supply in a market with underutilized, wasted spaces.”
2) Threshold360 is another startup transforming the house hunting process providing interactive, controllable 360° virtual tours. The Tampa-based virtual tour startup gives users a true feel of the space they might decide to call home. This tool doubles the likelihood of in-person tours while allowing both property managers and users to invest time in leads with true potential.
How We Move
3) Bellhops, founded in 2011 and based in Chattanooga, has helped lessen the burden of moving by acting as a match-maker between customers and moving services. By using the details of the user’s move, the technology curates an estimate of how many movers, how much time the operation will require and provides the cost. Bellhops is an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company currently operating in 26 states and serving both short and long distance moving needs.
How We Keep Our Homes Safe
4) The Talli platform is an Atlanta-based startup making parent’s lives easier. By allowing parents to easily log their baby’s activities with an app-connected hardware, such as diaper changes, naps, and feedings, the Talli app provides trend analysis for parents to view and monitor habits. Talli is currently utilizing feedback from customers to develop solutions for caregiving beyond babies, including for aging loved ones, children with special medical or developmental needs and those working to diagnose or manage chronic illnesses.
5) Over half of all house fires start in the kitchen, and Ome Kitchen was created to combat that. By replacing stove knobs with Ome knobs, users can control the stovetop through a digital app on your Smartphone. Users can set timers on the app to turn off burners or if accidentally left on, Ome will automatically shut off the flame. Ome can also integrate with Alexa to provide users to control the knob with their voice.
How We Decorate
6) Craftwork is creating “a better home painting process” by modernizing the home services market. Users enter in answers about what their painting project will entail and the platform gives a free estimate of cost and timeline in as little as 30 seconds. Craftwork currently services the Charlotte, NC area but is expanding into other markets as they continue to grow.
7) Bristles is a haven for avid DIY-ers. Based in Durham, North Carolina, this company helps users reimagine their creative projects through AI. Users can snap a photo of the furniture or living space they want to paint and use the app to virtually mock up ideas that include paint change, remodeling and further personalized customization.
How We Keep Up With Our To-Do List
8) My Panda is the next-door personal assistant to help with everyday needs in the Atlanta and Gainesville areas. The start-up charges an hourly rate for services that typically fill up to-do lists, like laundry, kitchen tidying and home organization. My Panda pairs users with vetted “personal assistants” that live in the neighborhood, 95% of which are women. Users can request help via the My Panda app and be connected to vetted neighbors in minutes.
9) If ‘getting greener’ is on your to-do list, CompostNow can help. The startup turns household and business waste into nutrient rich soil in Atlanta, Raleigh, Durham, Asheville, and Charleston. Members pay a fee for a weekly or bi-weekly pickup service in return for compost and a clean container to start the process again. The start-up has diverted over 71 million pounds of food waste to date and counting.
10) The Rounds, a zero waste delivery service for household essentials, is a start-up sustainability company. By using their “milkman model,” members pay a monthly subscription to receive common household items at their doorstep weekly in reusable packaging. Members leave these empty containers for The Rounds team to pick-up each week to be reused in future deliveries. The Rounds isa hyperlocal business but is continuing to expand into new cities and neighborhoods.
11) Idyllo, a Birmingham based start-up founded in 2021, is on a mission to “make homes better for people and the environment.” This start-up connects users with vetted home improvement partners, like insulation professionals, electricians, etc., and products tailored to their home and preferences. By using their website or mobile app, users can easily book trusted and personalized recommendations.
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Featured Photo From Craftwork’s website
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jamie Miller is based in Atlanta and graduated from the University of Georgia with bachelor’s degrees in Journalism and Business Management. When she is not writing or working as a Business Consultant at Ernst & Young, she can be found reading a good book (anything from Harry Potter to Brene Brown), sipping an espresso martini at the neighborhood bar or hunting the flower aisle at Trader Joe’s. She aspires to produce diverse and valuable journalism for the world in the hopes that it inspires others to become lifelong learners who seek first to understand, then to be understood. Read her portfolio here.
