Smart-home technology has gone to the dogs.
New York-based Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA) graduated 12 startups today, including Dog Parker—a connected doghouse that minds people’s pets while they shop at stores.
That is one example of the broad array of ideas in this class, said Jonathan Axelrod, managing director with ERA, reflecting the many different startup approaches in the wild. He spoke with me in advance of demo day and offered a rundown of the eclectic teams graduating from the accelerator. “It is representative of the broad range of industries folks are going after,” Axelrod (pictured) said.
Dog Parker, for instance, is developing remotely monitored, environmentally controlled doghouses that sit outside brick-and-mortar stores. It is not uncommon in New York to see dogs sitting in front of stores, tethered by their leashes to pipes, café tables, or other fixtures while their owners are inside. Dog Parker’s idea is to give people a place to “park” their pets, offering shelter that can be monitored via mobile app. Some 100 of these doghouses will roll out in New York, Axelrod said.
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