Roofer Pro. Roof Snap. Acculynx. Suddenly there is no shortage of companies offering software to make life easier for roofers and their customers. Among these is Roofr, a five-year-old San Francisco-based, 31-person roofer sales platform that just raised $ 4.25 million in post-seed funding led by Bullpen Capital, with the participation of Avidbank and former financier Crosslink Capital.
Co-founder and CEO Rich Nelson is aware of the competition. But as a third-generation roofer by trade, he also knows full well that the industry is far from overcoming its reputation as rife with sketchy, flaking contractors, whose clients often wonder if they need a new roof or suspect the estimates they get are very high.
He also knows – like his investors – how great a market opportunity Roofr and his rivals are pursuing. “It’s a huge, huge market,” says Nelson. “On average, about five million buildings in the US have their roofs replaced every year,” and they spend $ 50 billion on that, he says.
Right now, Roofr is solely focused on helping close that first sale. It all starts with a photo of a roof that Roofr obtains from partner companies, for example Nearmap, whose planes cover low-altitude cities to take high-definition photos, including from rooftops. With Roofr software, these contractors can then create their own roof measurement reports through these drone, blueprint and satellite images and create a report, or they can pay Roofr $ 10 per report to measure the roof for them.
Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 made the software more attractive to both roofers and customers who were reluctant to be around during the pandemic. Offers like Roofr’s made it possible to quickly and easily send a potential customer a quote without visiting the job site. The bet now is that growing awareness about the product will continue to fuel that momentum.
The company also has new offerings in the pipeline that could make it more attractive to both roofers and their customers. For example, in addition to quickly providing measurement data to roofers, roofers can now pay a monthly fee to have Roofr automatically make an estimate based on a specific material list, as well as the profit margin the roofer wants to include; it now also offers and stores digital contracts.
As for its current customer base, Nelson says it includes the largest roofers in North America, but Roofr is even more interested in small businesses, which, while fragmented, offer a much greater opportunity. He says there are more than 100,000 registered roofing companies in the US and the vast majority are five employees or fewer. (Roofr also sells its software to independent insurers.)
The new round brings Roofr’s total funding to $ 8.25 million. Crosslink led the first seed round in early 2019. Roofr also raised money from Y Combinator when it completed its accelerator program in 2017.
Pictured above from left to right: Roofr co-founders Kevin Redman and Rich Nelson. Redman is the company’s CTO; Nelson is the CEO.
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