Local online building marketplace ArchiPro has big plans to grow its footprint in Australia, following a successful round of financing from a big-name investment fund.
ArchiPro's website helps to connect people who want to renovate or build a home with possible product suppliers or building professionals. Photo: 123RF
The company has just raised $35 million in its Series A funding round which was led by New York-based private equity firm Tiger Global, with support from local players Icehouse Ventures and Liger Trading.
ArchiPro is a website that helps to connect people who want to renovate or build a home with possible product suppliers or building professionals, such as architects.
"Our mission is to simplify the end-to-end building experience for people who are undergoing a building project," chief executive Milot Zeqiri said.
It operates on a subscription-based model whereby companies pay to list their products or services on the website.
Examples of design boards supplied to clients. Photo: Supplied
Zeqiri said the platform was a cost-effective and simple way for local building businesses to get their products and architectural services in front of potential customers.
The company was founded in 2014 with his wife, Brittany Gribben, and Zeqiri said it now had about 3500 businesses on the platform and had anywhere between 300,000 and 400,000 monthly users of the platform across Australia and New Zealand.
"With the $35m we're planning on enhancing the current product and improving the user experience, as well as developing a tonne of new features."
Company co-founders Brittany Gribben and Milot Zeqiri. Photo: Supplied / © studio81 Ltd
The funds would also be used to hire between 100 and 150 staff on both sides of the Tasman, taking the team to more than 300, he said.
The local operations were separate from Australia in the sense that consumers in Aotearoa could only connect with New Zealand businesses on the platform.
The Australian arm has only been operating since October but has managed to sign up two years' worth of paid subscribers in just six months, Zeqiri said.
He stressed the company was more than just a website.
A lot of money had been invested into improving how businesses uploaded their content and data analytics, allowing its subscribers to see what sort of customer engagement they were getting, he said.
ArchiPro had completed its seed funding round in 2018, raising $2m through Snowball Effect. That was followed by an injection of $10m in capital.
Zeqiri said he could not disclose what the company was valued at nor details about its financial performance to date.
The company was achieving 100 percent revenue growth year-on-year but was not profitable at present because it was focused on reinvesting returns in its growth.