Hartford Business Journal

Startups, Technology & Innovation 18 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | SEPTEMBER 16, 2024 Chris Errato (left), chief technology officer, and Drue Hontz, founder and CEO, are developing Kazark, a 'multidimensional contextual search technology,' at The District coworking space in New Haven. HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER CT-based startup Kazark uses crowdfunding to develop news aggregation app for about 10 years and has obtained 11 patents in four countries (the U.S., Japan, China and Russia) for his algorithms that drive the app's information-curating engine. The platform will operate on a "freemium model," offering basic services for free with the option for users to subscribe to receive premium features, such as access to content behind paywalls. In the future, Kazark aims to expand its revenue streams by offering an enterprise platform, providing both business-to-business and business-to-consumer applications. Hontz said he plans to build and grow the business in Connecticut, which has a burgeoning tech-development space. "I'm enthusiastic to bring this technology and have it come out of Connecticut," he said. "That's my goal. I built it here." Raising money The company recently launched a crowdfunding campaign on Netcap- ital, a platform that helps startups raise money by selling "shares." Through crowdfunding, Kazark has already raised about $400,000 from accredited investors, Hontz said. However, through the current Netcapital campaign, unaccredited investors have an opportunity to buy shares for $2 each, with a minimum $100 investment. The campaign's goal is to raise up to $1 million. As of early September, it had raised nearly $45,000. The company's current valuation on Netcapital is $8 million. Proceeds from the Netcapital campaign will go toward software development (45%), marketing (25%), legal/patents (11%), hosting (9%) and compensation for managers (5%), according to the offering statement. Netcapital advises people not to invest any funds unless they can afford to lose their entire investment. The technology Hontz said Kazark's proprietary technology will help drive traffic to news websites, making journalism more accessible, while enhancing consumers' trust in news. His philos- ophy is that access to more informa- tion leads to a better understanding of truth. "It's 3D compared to 1D," Hontz said. "If I'm looking at a building, and I take three different photos at different angles, I have a much better idea of that building." Kazark is also meant to help By Andrew Larson alarson@hartfordbusiness.com T he last story published during the lifetime of Mark Twain was "Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven" in 1909. The short story is a first-person account of Captain Stormfield's journey to heaven, which he finds ludicrously incongruous with his preconceived notions. During a race with a comet, Storm- field relays that the term "kazark" represents an abstract unit of measurement in the afterlife that is infinitely large and small; inscrutable, yet strangely quantifiable. While modern use of the internet predated Twain by nearly a century, entrepreneur Drue Hontz — himself a fan of the late humorist — sees parallels between the fictional story and the current need for news consumers to sift through multiple sources of information to understand what's happening in a constantly expanding media environment. That was Hontz's inspiration for Kazark, an app he created that helps provide news consumers with context and a multidimensional understanding of events around the world, including geopolitical, environ- ment and human rights issues. Put simply, Kazark helps news consumers "navigate massive amounts of information easily," said Hontz, an Old Saybrook resident who has 24 years of experience as a serial entrepreneur and founded an elevator company in his basement in 1997, which he grew and sold to an international conglomerate. He also created a current events app called Track180; is principal of Saybrook Consulting Group, a business and marketing strategy consulting firm; and managing partner of Raybern Utility Solutions, a utilities consulting firm. Hontz is developing Kazark with the help of Chris Errato, founder and CEO of MindTrust, a software devel- oper. Errato and six to 10 devel- opers from MindTrust are working on Kazark at various times. Errato, whose firm is based out of The District in New Haven, is a fractional chief technology officer for Kazark. He said MindTrust has a venture agreement with Kazark, through which it provides some of its services in exchange for a stake in the business. "We sometimes discount our work or provide free services, as kind of the same as cash invest- ment," Errato said. "You can either raise venture capital and payers, or you can get free development. We kind of have a hybrid work model, where we're invested in Kazark through our work." He said Kazark is different from a social media platform like Facebook, which displays content personalized to a person's likes and tastes. "Kazark is trying to widen the aper- ture," Errato said. "It's not going to be in an echo chamber. You're going to get to see a lot of articles, and then make up your own mind." Hontz has been working on Kazark AT A GLANCE Kazark Inc. Industry: Technology Top Executive: Drue Hontz, Founder HQ: 470 James St., New Haven Website: kazark.com

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