Publisher’s Note: Venture Labs Aiken is a collaboration among the Aiken Chamber of Commerce, Make Startups, based in theClubhou.se at the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center, and the South Carolina Research Authority. This is part of the Aiken Innovation Corridor, which the chamber announced in August 2025. $500,000 in seed money is being divided amongst several entrepreneurs. This is Part One of a Seven-Part Series.
Home ownership can often feel overwhelming, trying to keep up with maintenance to do, what has been done, and inspections of vital systems.
One of the businesses in the inaugural cohort of the Venture Labs Aiken (VLA) incubator wants to give homeowners information at their fingertips.
Clem McDavid developed Homeledger as a software platform for both homeowners and operators, providing services to help manage homes and properties better and more efficiently.
“We give operators in the home concierge and home watch industries a modern, usable platform of record to track inspections and visits and inventory and everything about a house while also having communication channels with their customers and sending and receiving payments,” he explained for ABD. “On the homeowner side, we give you a better platform for knowing what it is you have in your house. Whether that’s if something really bad happens, like we all experienced here in CSRA a couple of years ago, or you’re just going to Lowe’s on a Saturday.”
His website outlines some benefits for both professionals and homeowners:
Businesses
- Reduce back-and-forth with clients
- Stay on top of inspections and issues
- Standardize how your team operates
Homeowners
- Real-time updates and reports
- Clear visibility into home status
- Easy communication in one place
McDavid has deep roots in Augusta and attended the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. He is a member of the Castleberry family, but they have moved to Charlotte. He has since returned home. He’s no stranger to pitch competitions and programs like VLA.
“I’ve done a smaller version of this,” he said. “We had something similar in Charlotte that I was a part of, very small, very quick, but like all of these types of things have their benefits for sure.”
Capital for the program, a total of $500,000, is being supplied by the Magnate Angel Group. Those are investors looking for entrepreneurs ready to move to the next level with a business that could one day be worth millions.
Once the pot is divided among members of the cohort, the funding is not sufficient to support a business, but will act as seed money.
McDavid said he is ready to grow.
“We’re hiring right now, so any bit of money goes a long way to personnel, but also we’re constantly innovating, so also R and D or integrating new technologies into our platform,” he said. “Any sort of money that you get is just like revenue that you’re getting from customers. As a founder, anytime that you can get feedback on both sides of it, but revenue certainly is positive feedback, and just kind of reinforces that maybe we’re on to something here.”
The members of the cohort represent a broad range of startups, ranging from technology to STEAM, reading programs, and physical fitness.
McDavid said that diversity is an asset for startups, finding common ground on how to navigate the pitfalls of entrepreneurship.
“I think the biggest thing that it helps with is avoids the myopic tendencies that you might have sitting there by yourself so close to your business,” he said. “You get another perspective, whether that’s from somebody in the cohort or a customer or just anybody you’re talking to. When you talk about it out loud, somebody else might have a different view, and that really helps.”
