By Nancy Dahlberg / ndahlberg@miamiherald.com / @ndahlberg
As more and more corporations embrace the reality that their systems and databases need to be accessible anywhere, anytime for their increasingly mobile workforces and customers, Jesus Rodriguez saw a big need in the market to ease the process for the companies.
Large companies want to build mobile applications that “talk” to their database systems — HR, payroll, etc. — and his new company, KidoZen, provides the safe, secure cloud-based platform that simplifies that. “We provide the platform that handles the back-end so the companies can implement their own applications,” said Rodriguez, KidoZen’s founder and CEO. “The infrastructure is already taken care of — they can just focus on building the app. We make it easy to connect to the system that is secure and compliant and that gives you all the analytics you need.”
Rodriguez, 34, was recently selected as one of the first Endeavor Entrepreneurs in Miami. Endeavor, a global nonprofit that supports high-impact entrepreneurship, will help him with growing his business worldwide.
To be sure, his company is already off to a strong start. KidoZen serves nearly 80 of the world’s largest companies and has formed a number of partnerships. More than 400 apps have been built on the KidoZen platform so far. Customers include Fort Lauderdale-based Citrix, Microsoft, Toyota, JetBlue and Macy’s. KidoZen, which has attracted $5 million in venture capital, booked nearly $5 million in revenue last year and is profitable.
By the time the young South Florida company opened its platform to the public in 2013 after testing the service for a year, KidoZen had already acquired paying customers and signed key strategic alliances with professional services and enterprise software vendors. Jason Port, a Miami angel investor and a KidoZen board member, noted that KidoZen has already been recognized by major analyst firms; Yankee Group recently called KidoZen one of its top three emerging platforms for mobile development.