KeyMe, a startup that hopes to revolutionize the locksmith industry, has announced a new $25m round of funding led by Benefit Street Partners (BSP), an affiliate of Providence Equity Partners.
This follows a $15m Series C round of funding in September 2016 led by QuestMark Partners and a $20m Series B round of funding in December 2015 led by Comcast Ventures, bringing total funding to date of $70m.
This new round of financing will support the company’s expansion plan to add more than 50 new kiosks per week, bringing more than 3,000 next-generation kiosks to leading retailers by 2017. KeyMe kiosks can be found in retailers across the US, including: Bed, Bath & Beyond, Rite Aid, 7-Eleven, Albertsons, Kmart, Mall of America, Safeway and Sears.
Greg Marsh, founder and CEO of KeyMe, said, “With $70 million in funding, KeyMe is well positioned to help tens of millions of consumers securely and conveniently copy keys at their local retailer, allowing them to skip costly, time-consuming detours to the hardware store or car dealership.
“This new round of funding will help bring KeyMe to millions of consumers from coast to coast and make it easier than ever to copy almost any type of key.”
The KeyMe kiosk is the first and only kiosk with the ability to support approximately 85 per cent of all automotive keys on the market, including modern fob automotive keys. Consumers have historically been forced to go to a dealer for such keys and often pay hundreds of dollars. This technology enables KeyMe to scan car keys at the kiosk, read the transponder, and ship a fully programmed copy with a shipment tracking code in under two days.
Prices start at $19.99 for non-transponder keys and $69.99 for fob and transponder keys. KeyMe can also replicate keys for watercraft, recreational, and commercial vehicles.
Mike Paasche, Senior Managing Director of Benefit Street Partners, added, “KeyMe’s expansion and exponential growth demonstrates the consumer demand for its innovative and industry-leading kiosks.
“We are proud to partner with KeyMe and to be a part of its exciting growth. We anticipate the company will continue to be a positive force as it becomes an important player in a $7.5bn industry and reinvents the way people make and manage their keys.”
KeyMe enables customers to save digital copies of their keys in the cloud. Customers can then recover a copy simply and securely using their fingerprint at any kiosk nationwide if they ever lose their keys or are locked out.
Customers can also use KeyMe’s free iOS and Android apps to save their keys in the cloud, creating a seamless multi-platform experience. Keys can be saved via the app and accessed and printed at a kiosk in the event of a lockout, saving hundreds of dollars that would ordinarily be spent on an emergency locksmith visit.
In addition to convenience, KeyMe’s advanced robotics and artificial intelligence technology produces key copies that are more accurate than the originals, whereas traditional key duplication services have 15-20 per cent error rates as a result of their tracing methodology. Customers can also use KeyMe’s free, downloadable mobile app to safely scan and save a digital copy from anywhere, and either mail order copies to their door or print a copy at any KeyMe kiosk.
KeyMe has introduced new measures of security and control into key duplication and lockouts, services historically fraught with scams and unscrupulous emergency locksmiths. KeyMe provides accountability across the entire customer experience. For every key made, there exists a detailed transaction history, financial paper trail and fingerprint encryption at login. KeyMe provides a closed loop security trail with its technology.
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