Alfred, also known as Hello Alfred, is a resident management software application that enables real estate developers and property managers to provide in-home services and experiences to their residents. Residents in Alfred buildings are assigned a personal home manager, or Alfreds, who are W-2 company employees, and can make requests in the company's app. The Alfred platform integrates with Real Page, Yardi and Entrata so that building management teams can operate their buildings through a single platform.
The company has publicly raised $56.5 million in funding and operates in over 20 cities.
History
Alfred was founded in March 2014 by Jess Beck, a
Williams College graduate, and
Marcela Sapone, a
Boston University graduate. They were both former
McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm founded in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey, that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. McKinsey is the oldest and ...
employees. The two were attending
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
at the time, along with founding team member Christian Bjelland V.
The co-founders first developed the service for their personal use as a way to find more time. They began to develop it commercially after neighbors began asking for it themselves.
In April 2014, the company won the Harvard Business School New Venture Competition. In September 2014, the company proceeded to win
TechCrunch Disrupt SF.
In November 2014, the company raised a $2 million seed funding round with investments from
Spark Capital, SV Angel, and Crunchfund. After its seed round the company launched in New York and moved its headquarters there, while continuing its Boston operations. In April 2015 Hello Alfred raised a $10.5 million Series A with investments from
New Enterprise Associates,
Spark Capital, Sherpa Ventures, and CrunchFund.
In May 2015, the company purchased key assets from New York based on-demand company WunWun.
Alfred works with real estate developers and property managers to offer its "in-home commerce" platform to residents as an amenity. In 2017, Hello Alfred signed deals with
The Related Companies
The Related Companies, L.P. is an American real estate firm in New York City, with offices and developments in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, San Francisco, Abu Dhabi, London, São Paulo and Shanghai. Related has more than 3,0 ...
and several other firms.
In July 2019, the company acquired Bixby, a building management technology platform.
In October 2020, the company raised a $42 million investment round led by
Adam Neumann's family office, 166 2nd LLC.
Reception
Worker classification
The company has received attention for hiring its Alfreds as W-2 employees and offering a starting hourly wage of $16. It has made statements in the debate about worker classification in the
sharing economy
In capitalism, the sharing economy is a socio-economic system built around the sharing of resources. It often involves a way of purchasing goods and services that differs from the traditional business model of companies hiring employees to produce ...
. Alfred classifies its workers as
W2 employees instead of 1099 independent contractors and therefore offers benefits and healthcare. The company was highlighted in a
New York Times op-ed for its decision to treat its labor force as employees.
Awards
Alfred won
TechCrunch Disrupt SF in 2014.
The company was recently selected as one of
Fast Company's Top 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World.
Other
Alfred is considered one of the first companies in the On Demand Economy 2.0,
and is also seen as commodifying home management services.
References
{{commons category, Hello Alfred
Online companies of the United States
American companies established in 2014