Tech entrepreneur’s latest venture sees surging demand amid pandemic

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    HARTFORD, Connecticut (Hartford Business Journal) — About eight years after Chris Allen founded smart home technology company iDevices, the Avon-based business was generating about $100 million in annual revenue.

He eventually sold iDevices — which develops and sells smart switches, plugs, sockets, outlets, thermostats and other devices — in 2017 to Shelton-based Hubbell Inc. for an undisclosed sum.

Now, Allen says he can grow his latest company, Avon-based iCleanse, to the $100-million mark in just a few years.

In July Allen acquired ReadyDock Inc., a small West Hartford company that makes docking stations that charge and disinfect — using UVA rays — electronics like phones and tablets. He said he saw a lot of potential in the four-person company, but thought it needed a more experienced management team to grow.

In April 2020, Hartford Business Journal reported that COVID-19 was creating major demand for ReadyDoc’s product, particularly among hospitals that were facing shortages of N95 masks and other medical equipment, but the company didn’t have enough capital to scale up manufacturing on its own.

“While we were in the midst of the pandemic … they were looking for more money and trying to figure out how to grow the business,” Allen said.

Allen didn’t disclose the purchase price, but said he raised $6 million in less than two months to buy and provide funding to grow the company, which was doing just over $1 million per year in revenue, he said.

ReadyDock Inc. had mostly sold its products to hospitals, but Allen sees opportunities in the wider consumer market for the newly named iCleanse line of UVA ray-enabled electronics disinfecting products.

“I don’t think this [heightened concern] is going away,” Allen said. “And I think that disinfection is going to be something that’s really key and paramount that we as a country — as a world — take seriously.”

The company’s brand of electronic cleansing products is called the Swift, which come in multiple sizes (Swift, Swift Mini, Swift XL, Swift 5X). A typical model resembles a toaster oven-like cabinet that can bathe cell phones, tablets and other objects in germ-killing ultraviolet light.

Going back to where he started, Allen has relocated the company to Avon, where he currently has 11 employees, in addition to 35 sales reps across the country and six distributors. His team includes former iDevice employees, and Allen estimates iCleanse could grow to about 60 employees and $100 million in revenue annually.

The long-term goal is to sell the business to a larger company, just like he did with iDevices a few years ago.

Venture support
Allen, who serves on the board of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, is a booster for the state’s startup scene.

He believes Connecticut can become a locus for entrepreneurs. Even some challenges that existed when he started iDevices seem to have improved since then, Allen said.

“When I started iDevices, I would say that venture capital was non-existent here,” Allen said. “If you didn’t know the who’s who in the state, you weren’t getting venture capital. That has changed.”

Allen acknowledges that Connecticut isn’t bursting at the seams with venture capital firms investing in the state, but he has noticed increasing access to funding for early-stage companies in recent years.

On average over the last five years, Connecticut companies have raised about $455 million annually. By comparison, Massachusetts-based companies raised $14.2 billion in 2020 alone, according to the latest PwC/CB Insights MoneyTree report.

Matthew McCooe, CEO of quasi-public venture firm Connecticut Innovations, said the state’s lack of institutional venture capital firms is one issue startups here face.

“I think there are angel investors, but I don’t think there are any institutional venture firms based in Hartford,” McCooe said. “It would be great to have institutional venture capital firms across the state.”

McCooe added that angel investors do put money in Connecticut startups, and a state tax credit for angel investments ($1,000 refund for each $100,000 invested) incentivizes prospective big-dollar investors.

Allen said Connecticut should also focus on developing more incubator spaces for early-stage companies that could help attract entrepreneurs who have left New York or Boston amid the pandemic.

“With the exodus from those cities, we have a tremendous opportunity in 2021 to say, ‘hey, come here, start your company here,’ ” Allen said. “But we have to start creating some pockets [of entrepreneurship] and look at where we have abandoned buildings or underserved markets, and make the investment.”

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