MyGate: A tech solution for apartment check-ins

STARTUP showcase

As India becomes more and more urbanised, huge apartment complexes offering an array of services to residents are fast becoming a norm. The growing popularity of delivery services such as Amazon, Zomato and others mean that a huge number of people go in and out of these complexes daily. For the security personnel, noting down the particulars of each of these visitors, calling up the houses to check their validity, is a huge chore. Moreover, it eats into the time they can utilise to secure their complex. For residents too, keeping a tab on visitors, answering calls from the main gate is a huge hassle.

MyGate, founded by Vijay Arrisetty, Abhishek Kumar and Shreyans Daga aims to solve these issues through digitisation. It is a mobile app-based system that ensures that all entries and exits to the community are approved and logged digitally. Apart from this, the app also incorporates e-intercom (automatic visitor authentication), child safety alerts and even has options that allow users to pay salaries to staff digitally and track their attendance records.,” he says.

Arrisetty says, “Initially, all these activities were done on registers, via intercom calls and slips were sent out to security guards. We have tried to shift all those functions on to a digital platform.”

Before setting out to launch the product, Arisetty found that residential real estate was growing rapidly, especially in the gated community space. “ As technology brings everything to your doorstep, residents had to interact with the guards multiple times and that meant that the guards could not perform their core security function well. That was the genesis of Mygate.

What does it do?

MyGate gives a mobile device to security personnel at the gate, where they only have to input numbers. It offers different options on the app, and the users can choose to even highlight daily visitors and staff separately. It also allows users to keep a tab on the attendance of employees working in the complex and connect with them directly.

Arrisetty says, “For instance, you no longer have to call up security and ask them to send domestic help to your house if your help has quit or taken the day off. You can select domestic help on the app and avail their services. “

MyGate has also integrated delivery apps such as Swiggy and Zomato into the system. From 40 communities in 2017, MyGate is now used by more than 5,000 gated communities in 11 cities.

The company raised $8.7 million in Series A round in October last year from Bengaluru-based venture capital firm Prime Venture Partners and followed that up with a $56 million Series B round two months ago.

The investment was from Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings, US-based JS Capital LLC, Tiger Global Management and existing investor, Prime Venture Partners.

The app is used to manage visitors (guests, deliveries, cabs etc), maintain attendance record and can even help in salary payments for daily help, discover services, pay society maintenance bills. It claims to process over 60,000 requests per minute and facilitates over 45 million check-in requests on a monthly basis.

Arrisetty points out, “Before the app, it used to take 3-4 minutes for visitors to check in to the complex. We have bought it down to 20 seconds and are looking at ways to bring it down further.”