Daisy, a smart space installation and services company, is making moves to grow its unit count and invest in the support infrastructure for its franchise system.
The Costa Mesa, California-based brand closed a $7 million Series B funding round September 5, with Goldcrest Capital and Bungalow Capital as lead investors, along with Bullish, marking the second investment in the business for each. This follows Daisy’s Series A funding in June that raised $11 million from venture capital firms and angel investors.
“We didn’t want to be time-bound with typical private equity,” said Daisy CEO and co-founder Hagan Kappler of going the venture and angel investor route. “We knew this wasn’t a five-year get.”
Kappler, who’s held leadership roles at top national brands including ServiceMaster Clean, Merry Maids, Starbucks, Terminix, Trane and Club Car, was the CEO of home services franchise platform company Threshold Brands before departing in early 2023 to create Daisy.
Hagan Kappler is the CEO and founder of Daisy.
Daisy—which installs and provides service for smart home and office technology including home entertainment, security, lighting and blinds, smart Wi-Fi and whole home control systems—began franchising in January.
Money raised, said Kappler, helped Daisy acquire and rebrand independent AV and integration businesses to corporate Daisy locations, and will help the company support its first franchisees. It’s completed eight acquisitions in seven months, including its most recent deal to buy SaaviHome, a Denver-based smart home technology integration service company.
Tyler Lantzy founded SaaviHome in 2004 and his son, CEO Gavin Lantzy, launched the franchise program last year. In addition to its corporate location in Denver, SaaviHome has one franchisee with a unit open and another in development. SaaviHome will eventually rebrand as Daisy.
“It was a very synergistic deal,” said Kappler, and Gavin Lantzy is joining the Daisy team as the company’s new franchisee sales and success leader. Also acquired this year was CyberManor, a connected home solutions company founded in Northern California by Gordon van Zuiden 25 years ago. It was van Zuiden who made the introduction between Daisy and SaaviHome.
“Gordon mentored Gavin’s father,” explained Kappler. “When Gavin saw we were acquiring CyberManor, that kicked off the conversation.”
The smart home space is small and tight-knit, Kappler continued, and Daisy’s acquisition and franchisee conversion deals—its first franchisee, Matt Walin, converted his Brilliant AV to Daisy and is adding a second franchise location with partner Charles Dyer—are attracting attention. Other acquisitions this year included Connecticut’s Integrated Lifestyle and California’s A Shade Above.
“We have a very robust pipeline, not just on the M&A side but also on the franchisee conversion side,” she said. “Our long-term rationale is to have one strong national brand name. That’s really impactful in home services.”
Kappler is positioning Daisy not as a one-time equipment installer but a company whose services are relevant to customers through multiple years or life stages.
“We’re not one and done. We don’t just do installation and then disappear,” she said. “We want to be there for the life of the consumer. Maybe we’re doing maintenance on an AV system and then later a new install for motorized blackout shades when a family has a new baby.”
The company is piloting its Daisy Care program, which includes options for on-demand remote tech support, quarterly maintenance visits and smart home monitoring. And it’s investing in what Kappler called “technician nirvana” as it aims to make Daisy “the best place for technicians to work.”
At its corporate locations, that means competitive pay, benefits, stock in the company for technicians of an acquired location and a path to ownership as a franchisee. Daisy is sharing its best practices with franchisees, Kappler said, as it recognizes retaining the best technicians is essential for the business model.