Dallas video firm OneDay reels in $19 million in new cash to continue expansion

OneDay, a Dallas firm that launched its video advertising platform in the senior dwelling trade, will use $19 million in new capital to broaden into funeral properties and the multifamily leasing trade.The new funding is being led by Volition Capital, a Boston personal fairness firm. The firm beforehand raised $5.3 million in a 2019 funding spherical.OneDay launched its core product, the OneDay for Senior Living platform, in 2017. The video advertising platform helps senior dwelling communities entice potential residents by offering video highlights of a property’s packages and facilities, in addition to amassing recorded testimonials from residents. Clients may use the platform to share movies about job openings or join with hiring candidates.The software program additionally has a question-and-answer function that senior dwelling communities can use to assist residents and their households protect tales and reminiscences for future generations. Using prompts, the app asks a query, information residents’ solutions and routinely creates a high-quality video that may then be shared with relations.OneDay was born when co-founder and CEO Clint Lee, a University of North Texas graduate, and John Boaz, Lee’s stepfather and founding father of OneDay, realized after the demise of Boaz’s grandfather that their household had little video or audio to keep in mind him with. Boaz had the concept to seize reminiscences and tales of residents of senior dwelling communities to protect them for future generations. The two based a know-how firm in 2012 with the intent of preserving tales, however realized the know-how may have a variety of makes use of.“Our know-how made it extraordinarily simple to personalize the gross sales course of in an trade that basically wanted that — to construct human connections,” Lee stated.OneDay says it grew its buyer base by greater than 150% in 2020, bringing its complete variety of partnerships with senior dwelling communities to almost 5,000 throughout the U.S., the United Kingdom and Canada. It has additionally begun to broaden its video-based platforms to different industries, hoping to replicate the success it’s discovered in the senior dwelling house.Earlier this yr, the corporate launched Convey by OneDay, a platform that lets leasing brokers for residences and condominiums join with potential tenants, give digital excursions and talk with potential residents all through the gross sales course of. Convey replicates most of the identical options from the senior dwelling platform, permitting properties to add movies to their advertising technique to enhance occupancy.In June 2020, because the COVID-19 pandemic put a maintain on many in-person funerals and memorial providers, the corporate launched its Reflect platform, which collects movies from customers through an app and creates a “crowdsourced private video documentary” to be shared with family and friends or stored as a souvenir.Renderings of OneDay’s Convey, Reflect, and OneDay for Senior Living platforms.(OneDay)OneDay has 41 staff and plans to add 20 extra earlier than the top of the yr to assist the expansion of the Convey and Reflect merchandise. The firm has additionally doubled its workplace house, shifting right into a new 10,000 sq. foot workplace in the Design District in May.“There is a major progress alternative for video platforms that enhance actual property occupancy charges and enhance resident experiences,” Sean Cantwell, managing companion at Volition Capital, stated in an announcement. The firm focuses on investments in founder-led corporations, with over 30 investments in U.S. and Canadian corporations and $1.1 billion in belongings underneath administration.“OneDay’s self-serve video platform, market validation in senior dwelling, and bold govt workforce have enabled it to construct a robust model and dominant market share throughout key classes,” Cantwell stated. “We see OneDay strengthening its management place with a continued development in direction of the usage of personalised video content material for tenant gross sales and engagement.”