Charlotte-based startup StreetFair is expanding the availability of its services here and entering a new U.S. city as the company has experienced significant growth in revenue.
StreetFair's footprint in the Charlotte area has been limited since its founding in 2021, only reaching certain neighborhoods such as Huntersville and Ballantyne. After seeing its revenue increase nearly five-fold over the last year, the company's platform is now available in all of the Charlotte region and recently launched in one neighborhood in Dallas, Texas.
The startup expects to roll out its services to the entire Dallas metro over the next nine months, Teddy Fitzgibbons, CEO and co-founder at StreetFair, told CBJ.
"As we just continue to see that core marketplace working well, I think we feel confident here that, 'Okay, we have a product that works,'" he said. "Now, the real big focus for us is how do we grow as quickly as possible and expand our footprint?"
StreetFair is a marketplace that seeks to more efficiently connect home-service providers with neighborhoods. Services are based on route density, with companies calculating the labor and gas costs to provide those. Having multiple customers in the same neighborhood cuts those costs significantly.
The startup closed on a $5.1 million seed funding round last year, which it used to enhance its product for local businesses and residents. StreetFair is now available in about 200 neighborhoods in Charlotte, with more than 500 local home-service businesses and 13,000 homeowners that utilize its platform, Fitzgibbons said.
There are still neighborhoods here with residents that haven't signed up to use its services, he said, but the company is available in any Charlotte-area ZIP code. StreetFair's growth strategy is to launch in neighborhoods as residents apply to bring its services to those areas. Homeowners can sign up their neighborhood via StreetFair's website.
"Everything we've done to grow has really been about, 'How do we organically build trust within a community,'" Fitzgibbons said. "That's led us to the model of residents raising their hand or volunteering to say, 'Hey, StreetFair should be in my neighborhood.' And then we work with that resident to help spread the word within the neighborhood."
He said he expects the spring season to be one of StreetFair's most significant growth periods, as it has in the past. Around that time, he said, many homeowners are looking for services such as spreading mulch or pine needles, hedge trimming, pressure washing and other landscaping needs to prepare for the nice weather.
"When most homeowners are looking to do the same type of service around the same time, StreetFair works just so incredibly well," Fitzgibbons said.
While StreetFair has been growing rapidly, it is still working on ways to expand its platform. It's been a challenge for the company to balance supply and demand and ensure neither homeowners or service providers have to sacrifice, he said.
"Our big focus is figuring out how to scale our marketplace," he said.
