New York, NY – January 11, 2021 – Buzr, a consumer electronics startup, is debuting its company platform at CES 2021 and premiering Buzr Pro, an innovative smart-home device that seamlessly integrates into buildings’ existing intercom systems and connects to users’ phones. CES 2021 is the first place in the world to showcase Buzr’s ability of enabling tenants to remotely grant access to their apartment building via an intuitive mobile app and provides virtual keys to trusted parties through direct integration with the user’s operations. These features provide convenience for residents, who can control their building’s front door from anywhere, and also increase the efficiency of shipping services by reducing the number of undelivered packages.

While Buzr is premiering at CES and will be going up against established smart home device companies, Buzr is poised to differentiate itself by offering the only product currently on the market that replaces outdated apartment access systems (buzzers) by only requiring the user to replace the wall unit in the apartment home with the Buzr smart device. The building’s main intercom outside the apartment does not have to be upgraded with Buzr’s solution. Unlike the competition, this saves residents and landlords thousands of dollars, while also offering a modern aesthetic and an easy installation process.

“Buzr is meeting the needs of city dwellers who live in buildings with outdated intercom systems and are consistently frustrated with undelivered packages, missed guests or simply wanting a touchless entryway system in this COVID world that we live in today,” said Tony Liebel, Co-founder of Buzr. “As a company who will be showcasing its prototype and taking preorders, we are proud to be launching at CES to show residents, landlords and companies frustrated by outdated building entry systems, like Amazon, FedEx and FreshDirect, how we can make their lives easier.”

Buzr was co-founded by Liebel and Jeremy Walker, both Cornell Tech alumni, who saw the need to upgrade legacy buzzer systems after their own frustrating experience of living in old NYC apartments. In May 2020 Buzr was one of four student companies that won the highly competitive Cornell Tech Startup Awards and received $100,000 in pre-seed funding to pursue their startups after graduation, as well as a co-working space at Cornell and access to a support team of industry leaders and executives in computer science and engineering. Buzr currently employs a team of 15 individuals, most of whom are experienced engineers.

Soon after discovering a void in the market, Liebel and Walker determined that the scale of the problem of outdated intercom systems, some of which were built as early as 1936, spans across 20 million old apartment buildings in the United States alone and 290 million globally. These legacy systems are a significant reason that one in three packages in NYC go undelivered to residents on the first attempt. Not to mention the 90,000 packages that are lost or stolen on a daily basis. This is extremely inconvenient to residents, but furthermore, it leads to negative customer reviews on retailers’ and delivery partners’ websites, which can adversely impact businesses’ revenue. Buzr is a cost-effective and easy solution to this problem, as it is universally compatible with over 2,000 apartment building intercom systems.

Liebel continued, “We envision a reality where trusted logistics providers are able to deliver their services directly into the common area of non-doorman buildings. And with Buzr, this reality is right around the corner.”

Buzr is also attractive to landlords and building owners as large urban markets are currently experiencing a massive increase in apartment inventory due to the impacts of COVID. Although upgrading an entire intercom system may be prohibitively costly, landlords can quickly install the Buzr device in individual apartments and gain a competitive edge by marketing the units as having virtual doorman capabilities.

And as we continue to live and work in a COVID world, another benefit offered by Buzr is the ability for real estate agents to conduct virtual showings. With the click of a button on a user’s phone, potential residents can let themselves into the apartment building to take a tour, all while adhering to social distancing guidelines.

Buzr Pro, the first smart device from Buzr, debuts at CES for $229 MSRP. Buzr Pro allows users to talk and listen through their phone, while also featuring doorbell notifications, virtual keys, service provider integrations, a built-in thermometer, audio log history and multi-user support. Installation can be performed by residents themselves, or through the Buzr installer network. The Buzr app can be downloaded from the Apple or Google Play app stores. For $7 per month or $75 per year, the Buzr Pro becomes even more powerful with support for virtual keys, activity logs, multiple users, and away messages.

Paid App Features:

• Multiple Users
• Virtual Keys
• Activity Log
• Away Message

Free App Features:

• Buzz
  • Talk
  • Listen

• Ring Notifications
  • Device Status (Wi-Fi & Battery)
  • Environment Monitoring (Temperature)

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About Buzr

Buzr is a consumer electrics company that connects outdated intercom systems to users’ phones — becoming a consumer’s virtual doorman. It was founded by two Cornell Tech alumni in 2020 under the belief that your living experience should not be determined by the date your building was built. The company’s premiere product, Buzr Pro, is a smart-home device designed to interact with a building’s front door from anywhere in the world through direct integration with the existing intercom via an intuitive mobile app. No more missed packages, missed guests, or fumbling for keys when arriving home. For more information, visit GetBuzr.com.