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Homeowners in the United States spend more than $ 300 billion a year on home repairs and maintenance, a huge amount that often leads to an even more hidden cost: the stress of finding reliable craftsmen, manage these jobs and, in the worst case, pick up the pieces if things go wrong.
Now, a startup called Super has built what it considers to be a "fix" to this problem: a subscription service for the maintenance and repair services of your property. Today, it announces a $ 20 million Series B to continue its expansion across the United States after growing 400% annually over the past two years.
The financing is led by Aquiline Technology Growth (ATG), with the participation of Munich Re Ventures, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Modern Ventures, 8VC by Joe Lonsdale, Qatar Investment Authority and Solon Mack Capital . It's an awesome mix because it highlights the traction and credibility with people close to his field: Munich Re Ventures and Liberty Mutual are locomotives of insurance; Aquiline and Modern focus on insurance and real estate start-ups, QIA has major investments in the construction sector and Solon Mack is the family office of Mack real estate entrepreneurs .
Jorey Ramer, founder and CEO of Super, said he had had the idea of Super after selling his former company, Jumptap, an advertising network acquired by Millennial Media (which is now part of Verizon via its acquisition of AOL, just like TechCrunch). Having been a tenant and living for his entire adult life, he ended up buying a property when he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, much more reluctantly because of headache to take care of his new home.
"I liked being a renter," he said in an interview. "You pay a fee and you know what to expect." (Indeed, "Super" is a double word game that means "super" but also the nickname of the superintendent who often takes care of maintenance and repairs in a building.)
Looking at the state of the market, he said that he was not very satisfied with the services already offered in the field of maintenance and maintenance, which he found too rooted in their old way of doing things ( something that I agreed with my personal experience as a landlord in England, by the way).
"These companies have prioritized costs over service," he said. "Yes, they built networks of service providers, but they are not service providers you would invite to your home if you found them directly. The entire system creates incentives to do the least amount of work possible or to encourage additional work that you simply do not need. These are deeply rooted systems that needed to be reinvented from scratch. "
And that's what Super aims to do. At present, the company provides links to approved repair and maintenance service providers, priced between $ 20, $ 60, and $ 90 per month, depending on the level of service (for example, appliances , home, upscale home, coverage in case of breakdown, extended coverage, etc.). Today, there is a $ 75 share on all repairs and other work, but as the company refines its business model and its relationships with suppliers – including those who could sell its services to owners such as businesses selling real homes -, change.
"The long-term vision," said Ramer, "is to eventually cover 100% of the repairs and maintenance of your home. You will have nothing to pay as everything will be included in the subscription. "
Super touch here an emerging point but very interesting. Just as companies like Uber and Lyft have helped to change the narrative about the future of transportation services, companies like Opendoor are changing the dynamics and conventions governing how people buy and sell – and possibly their own houses. This is an excellent opportunity to rethink each step of this process by bringing in new players like Super and former players like Angie's List who are now adopting new approaches; to reconsider not only what they offer on the market, but also the channels they use to find customers. (This is an area that Amazon also wonders about, because the home is the ultimate platform for just about everything it offers in the marketplace in terms of products and services.)
Ramer said that, while Super sells today primarily to individuals, there are many options available to her as to how her service could be bundled with others, that she would Acts to buy the property, or to buy insurance, or even to buy white goods or others. who will eventually fill these houses.
"Super has developed an efficient and practical platform to provide high-end care and repair services to homeowners," said ATG's Max Chee in a statement. "Super is tackling a sector that is ripe for innovation with a smart, technology-driven approach, and we're excited to be working with Jorey and the rest of the Super team to help continue this exciting journey." "
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