Innovative, Home Improvement Startup Raises $65 Million


The U.S. home improvement industry is extremely lucrative — worth about $57.2 billion in total — so it should come as no surprise that an innovative start-up connecting homeowners to home service professionals would be able to garner a ton of fundraising. What is surprising, though, is just how much it was able to get.

Just four months ago, the home improvement start-up Porch was able to raise close to $28 million in its first round of fundraising. With its second round complete, Porch was able to raise another $65 million, bringing the 16-month-old company’s total funds to over $100 million.

“It’s a big market and we’re trying to grow an enduring company,” Matt Ehrlichman, Porch CEO, told Forbes. “It’s about building competitive advantages or moats. We are willing to capitalize the business in order to win.”

Antonio Gracias, the CEO of Valor Equity Partners, who led the latest round of fundraising, will be joining the start’s board of directors. Other investors included Lowe’s and Ty Pennington, the host of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

The new funding will go towards a national roll-out of the mobile app’s booking feature, which lets users schedule and pay for small maintenance jobs at pre-negotiated prices right from their mobile devices. Currently, it’s only offered to Seattle users as part of Porch’s beta program.

According to the company, revenue and membership have climbed more than 1,000% over the past 12 months. Now, its network is made up of 3.2 million service professionals across the country, who pay to have Porch promote their services and link them with homeowners. So far, the reputable service professionals who work with Porch have completed more than $2.5 trillion worth of home improvement work.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re twice our size a year from now,” said Ehrlichman to the New York Times. “We will continue to grow explosively.”

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