Edmonton-based Jobber, which provides operations management software for home service businesses, has secured $100 million USD in Series D funding led by New York growth equity investor General Atlantic.
As other tech companies face difficulty raising cash, Jobber has secured capital as it claims its customer base has seen strong demand from consumers for necessary home services, like heating and plumbing.
“This is an up round in a quality business that’s growing well, new investor, no messy terms.”
-Aaron Goldman, General Atlantic
Jobber is betting this trend will continue as it gears up to capture more of the North American market.
“Your roof springs a leak, you fix it,” Jobber co-founder and CEO Sam Pillar told BetaKit in an interview. “If your air conditioner or your hot water tank or your furnace breaks, you’re gonna fix it. A sink explodes, you’re gonna fix it. These are things that regardless of [a] pandemic or recession … consumers continue to [pay for].”
Since closing $60 million USD in Series C funding a couple of years ago, Jobber has roughly doubled the size of its customer base, tripled its revenue, and avoided layoffs, as many of the home service businesses the company serves have remained resilient during the downturn.
Jobber exceeded $100 million USD in annual revenue in 2022, and today the company caters to more than 200,000 home service professionals across 60 countries.
But Pillar sees plenty of more room for the company to grow, noting that the home service business category remains “a massive market opportunity very early on in the technology adoption cycle.”
“We’re still super early in terms of market penetration,” the CEO added. “There are 6.2 million businesses that could be using Jobber in North America.”
Founded in 2011 by CEO Sam Pillar and CTO Forrest Zeisler, Jobber aims to help home service businesses operate more efficiently, increase earning potential, and improve the customer experience. The startup helps clients navigate the full customer lifecycle, from sending quotes, to scheduling crews, dispatching jobs, invoicing customers, and accepting credit card payments.
Consumer spending overall has been falling amid high inflation and interest rates. But according to a recent Jobber customer survey, even as the broader economy has slowed, demand for home services has outpaced other categories, including spending on cars, groceries, and clothing. Data also indicates consumers have continued to spend in certain segments of the home services sector during the downturn, including home renovations, though signs indicate this is beginning to shift.
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Amid a period of macroeconomic “volatility and chaos,” Pillar claimed that despite seeing some turnover, Jobber’s small-to-medium-sized business (SMB) customer base has remained “relatively resilient” throughout both the market downturn and the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the CEO, this is because, in most cases, Jobber customers provide necessary services to consumers, like roof and heating repairs.
Jobber’s Series D financing, which closed last month, consists of $100 million USD in equity, primary capital. General Atlantic is a first-time investor in Jobber and the round also saw participation from existing Jobber backers Summit Partners, Version One Ventures, and Tech Pioneers Fund. It brings Jobber’s total funding to date to $176 million USD, from a group that also includes OMERS Ventures.
As part of the round, Aaron Goldman, General Atlantic managing director and head of enterprise technology investing, has joined Jobber’s board of directors.
“This is an up round in a quality business that’s growing well, new investor, no messy terms,” Goldman told BetaKit in an interview. The investor credited Jobber for not doing “a stupid round in the bubble,” referring to the 2021 venture capital (VC) investment boom, when money was easier to come by and tech valuations skyrocketed as investors competed more heavily for deals.
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It is important to note that Jobber was not in a position where it needed to raise funding during this period, as the company closed its previous round around the very beginning of 2021, back when VC investment had recovered following a pandemic lull, but prior to the peak of the startup funding craze to which Goldman was alluding.
Pillar declined to share Jobber’s latest valuation, noting only that it was a “significant up round” compared to Jobber’s Series C financing, which also came with an undisclosed valuation.
“When we raise money we do it on the basis that we’re a very strong business that has a true path to profitability and massive market opportunity,” said Pillar. “I think that’s valuable in any market environment … I think especially over the past couple of years, maybe that got lost a little bit.”
Asked whether the company’s Series D round involved any secondary capital, Pillar said “we’re only commenting on the primary capital.” Goldman noted that Jobber and General Atlantic are exploring “potentially doing some secondary from early investors.”
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Per Goldman, Jobber is a company that General Atlantic has “chased for years,” noting that the growth equity firm previously considered investing in Jobber’s Series C round. Although General Atlantic did not pull the trigger at the time, since then, the two firms have remained in “close contact.”
Goldman described Jobber’s market opportunity as “gigantic,” noting that the company’s product “pays for itself” given the efficiency gains it offers home service business providers relative to its price point.
Jobber currently serves customers across 50 industries, including HVAC, lawn care, plumbing, residential cleaning, and painting. To date, the startup’s clients have delivered services to more than 27 million properties. Last year alone, Jobber customers generated more than $13 billion USD in revenue.
But according to Pillar, tech adoption in the home service sector still remains low. Today, the CEO claimed Jobber’s biggest competitor is “a coil-bound notebook with a bunch of post-its stuck inside.” Pillar noted that there are some competitors to Jobber that operate further up market, serving businesses willing to spend more on technology, as well as some other players focused on addressing the needs of specific industry verticals.
“We believe that we’re at a position where we’re market leader.”
-Sam Pillar, Jobber
“Neither of those are really what we’re trying to do,” said Pillar. “We believe that in order to really win in the space and deliver the best product experience to small business owners, we should be seeking to solve most of the common denominator problems across all home service industries.”
Goldman noted that so far, Jobber has seen “no degradation in their underlying home service business economics” on a month-to-month basis. “People are still billing and collecting and quoting lots of jobs,” he added.
At the same time, the investor acknowledged that should there be a “severe enough” recession, consumer spending on discretionary home services will likely decline. “Personally, I think we are due for a recession here,” said Goldman. “How deep or how severe that recession is, I think, remains to be seen.”
Despite this forecast, Goldman believes Jobber is “well-positioned to thrive” during a prolonged downturn given how efficiently the company manages its business.
As other tech firms shed staff during COVID-19 and the market downturn, Jobber has been able to avoid laying off employees, only pausing hiring temporarily during the beginning of the pandemic. Pillar attributed this to Jobber’s “disciplined” approach to spending and hiring and the fact that the company’s customer base has weathered these conditions well.
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“In an environment right now where you’ve got all these down rounds, weird structures, and terrible things happening, this is overall very positive,” said Goldman.
Jobber plans to invest its capital in research and development, sales and marketing, and new customer acquisition, as it grows its 600-person team and focuses on bringing more North American SMBs to its platform.
For his part, Version One Ventures founder and general partner Boris Wertz told BetaKit the firm reinvested in Jobber because it believes Pillar and Zeisler are “building a generational company.” Jobber marked Version One Ventures’ first-ever investment.
“We believe that we’re at a position where we’re market leader … the space is very resilient, and so now seems like a very good time for us to continue investing into some of the things that we think are going to be important for these [home service] businesses in the years to come,” said Pillar.
Feature image courtesy Jobber.