GearBrain: Then and Now

GearBrain is a First Check Fund and Marketing Edge portfolio company. Here's a quick look at how the company has changed since it applied to LvlUp, and why we think its best years are ahead.

Then (at application): an established audience, but no enterprise customers.

Now (October 2026):

• Monthly revenue up almost 3x since applying to LvlUp
• A partnership agreement signed with TekDiscover
• Resideo signed and implemented as an enterprise customer
• 550K+ users on GearBrain.com in the past 12 months

What GearBrain actually does

Most people know GearBrain as a place to read reviews of smart home gadgets. That's the visible part.

The less visible part is a patented engine and a database of thousands of connected devices that shows which ones work together. The company is turning that into GearBrain Assistant, an AI tool that retailers, device makers and service providers can offer their own customers to help them pick compatible products, set them up and fix them when something goes wrong.

Why Resideo matters

Content businesses usually live and die by ad revenue. Resideo signing an enterprise agreement this year is the clearest sign that GearBrain's data can be sold directly to companies, which is a far more durable business than advertising.

Why now

AI is moving into the home. Big platforms are adding assistants that manage devices, and those assistants need accurate, cross-brand compatibility data to be useful. General-purpose AI tools don't have it. GearBrain has spent years building it.

What has to happen next

One enterprise customer is a start, not a trend. Over the next year we want to see more licensing deals like Resideo's, and real usage of GearBrain Assistant in retail and support.

From Mark

"LvlUp Ventures backed GearBrain at an important stage in our development. We appreciate its early investment and its commitment to keeping our progress visible across its ecosystem as we build GearBrain Assistant and pursue enterprise licensing opportunities." Mark Westlake, GearBrain

Figures are founder-reported, from GearBrain's application and October 2026 Quarterly Founder Update, and shared with the company's permission.