BuildZoom operates a marketplace that helps homeowners find and hire construction and remodeling contractors, then supports both parties through project completion. The platform gathers and analyzes data on over 3.5 million licensed contractors and 100 million improvement projects to provide upfront advice to consumers. Led by CEO David Petersen and President Jiyan Wei, the company emerged from Y Combinator in 2013. BuildZoom reports a marketplace with over 12 million annual users and more than 35 employees. Financially, the company has raised a total of $13.5M to date. BuildZoom is a San Francisco, CA-based intelligent marketplace for remodeling and construction services. Led by Jiyan Wei and David Petersen, the platform lets homeowners find and hire contractors and view comprehensive profiles with work history, project photos and customer reviews. The company has collected data and analysis on more than 3.5 million licensed contractors and building permits for over 50 million construction projects nationwide. BuildZoom raised $2.15M in seed funding and intends to use the funds to invest in data science, engineering and customer support operations in its San Francisco office. Investors in the round include Formation 8 (lead), Y Combinator, Streamlined Ventures, Goldcrest Investments, Hydrazine Capital, Signatures Capital, DV Playground, Pankaj Shah and other angel investors. BuildZoom is a Y Combinator-backed online directory that connects homeowners with licensed contractors. The service aggregates public state licensing board data and select Better Business Bureau data to build its database, which now lists 3 million licensed contractors, 25,000 claimed profiles and roughly 60,000 uploaded photos. It combines contractor reviews, web-sourced reviews and business metrics (completed projects, time in business) to produce a "BuildZoom Grade" for each contractor and lets homeowners leave reviews. The company plans to evolve from a discovery/review site into a true marketplace, enabling transactions and cloud-based contract and communication tools so agreements and project management happen online. BuildZoom reports roughly 12% month-over-month growth and about 2,500 contractor sign-ups per month. After launching in March with a small distributed team in San Francisco, the company has been hiring engineers and user-facing staff and plans further headcount expansion.

Total raised

$14M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Oct 2015