Hartford Business Journal

8 Hartford Business Journal • May 14, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Reporter's Notebook Matt Pilon | mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com Health Care/Bioscience, Startups & Entrepreneurs, Government/Law and Energy STARTUPS & ENTREPRENEURS Hartford startup Countability helps manage school lockdowns A Hartford-based tech startup has raised $200,000 that could help propel develop- ment of its emergency man- agement software, company officials say. Countability, which has offices at 67 Prospect St., raised the funds in March, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fil- ing, and expects to notify the SEC of an additional amount of fund- ing soon, compa- ny officials said. "This is fund- ing our go-to- market strategy," said Brad Chase, Countability's marketing and sales vice president. Countability was founded by local web developer Jon Bishop, who is chair- man and chief technology officer. Chase and CEO Glenn Bolduc both joined the company in the latter half of 2016. Countability offers a communications and information management system that helps schools and first-responders quickly establish a common "operating picture" and account for students in the event of a school emergency, such as a shooting, bomb threat or weather event. The company hopes the concept can eventually be expanded into nursing homes or even prisons. "Historically, of course, they'd get out the pencil and paper," Chase said. "With Count- ability, they can check in on their phone and ac- count for all the students in under five minutes." It's the first time the company, which has seven employees, has reported receiving fund- ing. Bolduc says opera- tions have been largely bootstrapped thus far. "The people doing this have a strong passion for what we are doing," Bolduc said. "We are taking small salaries at this point." He said several school systems in several states — including Connecti- cut — are testing the platform, and the company hopes to start earning revenue in the upcoming school year. Its pricing is based on a per-pupil structure. Bolduc, a seasoned executive who has worked for a number of major Massachusetts companies, including Kronos and Implant Sciences, officially became Countability's CEO earlier this year when the company, formerly an LLC, incorporated in Delaware. Bolduc said when he learned about the fledgling company, he perceived major potential. "I said 'yeah, this is one I would re- ally like to take a swing at,' " he said. Countability has been doing beta test- ing for about a year, which has helped improve the software, said Chase, who previously worked for Bolduc at Im- plant Sciences, which has since been acquired for nearly $118 million. Now, technology is no longer Countability's biggest hurdle to future growth. Selling a novel product to bureaucratic school sys- tems is, Bolduc said. "The good news is all of the schools recognize the need for something like this," he said. "Like most things, it's going to be about education." ENERGY Legrand gets LEED nod Legrand says its U.S. headquarters in West Hartford has earned LEED status from the U.S. Green Building Council. The French company manufactures components and systems for electrical and digital infrastructures — such as switches, sockets, enclosures, power supplies, etc. — at its 263,000-square- foot West Hartford campus, which has five buildings including one that is nearly 100 years old. Legrand notched 48 points out of a possible 100 in the LEED rating sys- tem, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED is typically scored in a silver- gold-platinum system, but since Le- grand's project was on an existing build- ing and not a new one, those distinctions don't apply. "Obtaining LEED certifica- tion for our West Hartford facility is a major achieve- ment for our entire company," said John Sell- dorff, president and CEO of Le- grand North and Central America. To earn its status, Legrand used a digital tracking system called Arc, which submits actual building performance data to the Green Build- ing Council on energy, waste, water, human experience and transportation. Legrand said it wanted to pursue LEED certification using actual perfor- mance data to leverage several years of efforts to improve its environmen- tal performance. In late 2016, Legrand joined more than 200 large companies that pledged ambitious reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions that align with the United Nations' 2015 climate convention, an agreement that Presi- dent Donald Trump announced the U.S. would pull out of. Shown above is Legrand's U.S. headquarters in West Hartford, which recently won LEED status. While most LEED projects are new construction, Legrand pursued an avenue for existing properties. PHOTOS | CONTRIBUTED Brad Chase, Marketing and Sales Vice President, Countability Jon Bishop, Founder, Chairman and Chief Technology Officer, Countability Glenn Bolduc, CEO, Countability Countability's software (above and right) gives administrators an overview of their school's status during an emergency. PHOTOS | CONTRIBUTED

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