Naples startup backed by Donnie Wahlberg offers 'virtual vault' for vital personal data
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A Naples-based technology startup is getting noticed by industry and interest groups – and investors, including a few TV celebrities.
The company is called Prisidio.
Founder and CEO Glenn Shimkus, a serial entrepreneur, created the business and its online platform to provide a "virtual vault" for personal documents and information. Think wills, titles and deeds, insurance policies, vaccination records – and more.
The cloud-based platform provides a secure place for people to store and organize confidential and vital information, which they can share digitally with those who are "central to their lives," he explained.
"We are information challenged as families and individuals. We have all this information coming at us. It's sometimes in the mail. It's physical, it's digital. We forget where we put it and when we need to access it, we can't find it," Shimkus said.
That's where Prisidio comes in, as "home central" to the information. The stored information could range from a simple copy of a driver's license or insurance card to a comprehensive family history, or detailed financial records. It could include a list of heirlooms and other valuables, with their location and worth, from bitcoin to art.
A basic plan starts at $9.99 a month.
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The startup has raised more than $10 million
Prisidio launched in October 2020, following two years of research and development. It has raised $10.3 million in "seed money" through three rounds of funding from venture capitalists to help it get off the ground.
Second Century Ventures, the strategic investment arm of the National Association of Realtors, recently accepted the company into its REACH technology scale-up program, recognizing its importance in helping property owners store critical documents.
Last year, AARP chose the company as one of its AgeTech Collaborative participants, giving it access to hands-on mentorship and support to help fuel its growth in support of seniors, who can often find the task of organizing their personal information overwhelming, due to the sheer volume of it.
The market potential for the platform among seniors is huge, with more than 122 million people over the age of 50 in the United States alone – and baby boomers set to pass on more than $68 trillion to younger generations, the biggest wealth transfer in U.S. history.
The broader market for the technology is huge, Shimkus said.
"This is not just a problem for the rich. It's not just a problem for the elderly. It's an everybody problem," he said.
In times of disaster, such as with Hurricane Ian, which wrought so much devastation in Southwest Florida last year, an online tool such as Prisidio can prove invaluable, as a safe haven for important property-related documents, Shimkus noted.
Last year, natural disasters displaced an estimated 3.4 million Americans from their homes, according to the U.S. Census.
"So much of what we have in our documentation and information is in and around the home," Shimkus pointed out.
Celebrities have invested their money in the company too
Prisidio hasn't just caught the eye of venture capitalists and industry groups.
It has attracted a few celebrity investors from the U.S. They include Blue Bloods actor Donnie Wahlberg and his wife Jenny McCarthy, a judge on The Masked Singer, and reality TV stars Kyle Richards on Bravo's Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and husband Mauricio Umansky on Netflix's Buying Beverly Hills.
Asked about his connections to the celebs, Shimkus described Donnie Wahlberg as a "friend of a friend," and Mauricio Umansky as a business connection. Wahlberg is also a member of the musical group New Kids on the Block.
Glenn and his wife Shantel Shimkus are among a handful of managing partners in the Naples office of The Agency (Umansky's high-end power brokerage featured on Buying Beverly Hills). The local franchise opened last year, with a territory that spans from Marco Island to Tampa Bay.
With such an "incredible group" of investors behind Prisidio, Shimkus said he feels fortunate.
"Security is not inexpensive," he remarked. "To do it right, it requires time. It requires experience, it requires resources and it requires tools."
The founder is a serial entrepreneur
Prisidio is the fourth startup for Shimkus, a native of Chicago. All of his ventures have centered around document and content management, but this is the first one he's developed that's aimed at consumers, rather than businesses or professionals.
DocuSign, a pioneer of the eSignature, acquired his last enterprise Cartavi in 2013.
Cartavi is an online document management and sharing service designed specifically for real estate professionals and their clients. The idea came to Glenn after seeing his wife, who has been a Realtor since 2006, struggle to keep up with and organize all the paperwork involved in selling a home.
So what's behind the name Prisidio? It's a play on two words, presidio, Latin for "fortress" or "garrison," and privacy, Shimkus explained.
He designed the platform to be user friendly, with a series of how-to videos and step-by-step directions offered on its website, or through the app.
Information can be entered as time allows, in 5- to 10-minute spurts, so as not to seem so overwhelming, Shimkus suggested. It could be as simple as taking a few photos or recording a video with your phone to create a personal record.
"The biggest competitor is inertia," Shimkus said. "It is doing nothing."
He started the company with a long-time business partner Paul Koziarz, who is no longer involved.
Koziarz, another serial entrepreneur, also co-founded Cartavi, with Shimkus.
"I talked him into helping me get Prisidio off the ground, but he left to go back into retirement," Shimkus said.
The company promises a secure platform
Vanessa Pegueros, a former chief information security officer at DocuSign, has been involved since Day 1, and serves as an independent director on Prisidio's board.
Pegueros and Shimkus met and worked together closely at DocuSign after it acquired Cartavi and he stayed on to continue growing that business.
"He was always very open, and collaborative," she recalled.
A lot of startups don't have independent directors, but Shimkus saw it as critical to tap her knowledge of security, from the start, Pegueros said. She helped steer him in the right direction from the get-go to create a virtual vault, protected by bank-grade encryption, multi-factor authentication and fraud detection.
Describing the technology as forward thinking, user friendly and intuitive, Pegueros said there's nothing like it, allowing people to easily categorize and organize their information under documents, people, places and things.
She admits that the environment for startups is tough these days, with so much economic uncertainty. However, she believes Shimkus has an edge because of the network and reputation he's built over so many years in the technology business.
While Pegueros hasn’t directly invested in the company as an independent director, she has exercised her stock options as they've matured, reflecting her strong belief in its future.
All employees are offered equity, or stock options, in the company, as well as the advisers.
There are lofty goals for growth
Today, the number of Prisidio users is in the "low thousands," but Shimkus expects it to "swell" by the end of the 2023.
"Our goal is 15,000 users by the end of the year," he said. "Quite frankly, with such strong partnerships, we expect to greatly exceed that."
The company now has 16 employees, scattered across the U.S., with a home base at Venture X, a shared luxury coworking space off U.S. 41 in North Naples.
"As we grow, we will be building our primary presence here," Shimkus said. "A few of our employees moved down over the last year, and we are hiring in this market."
Not all of its employees will be based here, however.
"We’ll still have folks elsewhere and may hire folks elsewhere," Shimkus said.
He expects to hire another three to five full-time employees and another one to three consultants by the end of the year to support growth.
"Likely areas are support, engineering, marketing and sales," he said.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Naples-based startup Prisidio is generating a buzz and big investments
