Homeowner concierge platform MoveEasy has raised another $7 million for a cumulative $10.5 million over two rounds this year.
At the same time, the Grandview Heights company is on track to double revenue this year, on top of quadrupling revenue in 2021 over the prior year. Figures are not disclosed.
MoveEasy is on track to hit profitability next year after eight years of "humbling" struggle, co-founder and CEO Venkatesh Ganapathy said. The outside capital simultaneously provides security in a tough economy while accelerating plans to expand products and client markets.
"It allows us to be a little more ambitious with some of the tests we want to do with multiple industries," Ganapathy said in an interview. "It truly accelerates our growth. Despite market conditions, we'll probbly be able to do a lot of those things next year."
Moderne Ventures, a Chicago VC firm focused on real estate technology, led the Series A along with a strategic investment by insurer Travelers Companies.
In March MoveEasy had raised a $3.5M seed round from investors including Breaktrail Ventures, New Valley Ventures, Columbus-based Loud Capital and CheckFree founder Pete Kight.
A month later, the company entered Moderne's six-month business accelerator, Passport Program, which can lead to an investment like this one. Moderne, which raised a $200 million second fund last year, has had five portfolio companies top $1 billion valuation and three that went public, Chicago Inno reports.
How MoveEasy works, and how it makes money
MoveEasy's software is free to use by homeowners and the real estate agents who invite them to join.
What started as quote generation for moving companies has evolved into a comprehensive homebuying and home maintenance platform. The full suite rolled out this fall.
Homeowners can get insurance quotes, sign up for a home warranty, upload receipts and appliance registration documents, shop for utilities and internet and find recommendations for services like painters and roof repair. The platform even periodically flags possible savings, such as by switching energy suppliers, or sends reminders like replacing the air filter in the furnace (and suggests things like home delivery of filters).
Each member has a dedicated human concierge at MoveEasy for extra help.
MoveEasy gets a commission if the consumer makes a purchase through the referral. So far those who sign up for a service through the platform have only a 3% cancellation rate, Ganapathy said.
"I don't think there's a single company today that does all these things," he said. "A home at the end of the day is your largest asset."
More than 1 million homeowners are using the platform, but they can't sign up directly. They're invited by some 130,000 real estate agents through local franchises of large brokerages including Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Century 21, Howard Hanna and Re/Max. The software is custom designed with the brokerage brand; MoveEasy itself fades into the background.
That way agents keep an ongoing relationship with clients, Ganapathy said. Now that the services have expanded so widely beyond moving, agents can invite past clients to the platform and possibly win repeat business.
“In today’s shifting market, real estate firms have an imperative to embrace innovation and adopt new ways to deliver value to clients across their entire journey as homeowners,” Constance Freedman, founder and managing partner at Moderne Ventures, said in a news release. “MoveEasy is at the forefront of this change, delivering a best-in-class solution for home management that empowers brokerages and agents like never before."
Moving beyond its name?
Ganapathy is exploring other distribution partners like insurance and mortgage companies – especially since they're not getting a lot of inbound interest for new loans amid soaring rates.
"Unless it's an environment like two years ago with prices falling, the only way (for a lender or insurer) to engage is to say, 'Here, we can help you find savings without asking for something in return,'" he said.
MoveEasy also could extend to property management companies to offer to renters, he said. Even competing platforms that offer things like mortgage calculators could augment their online offerings by plugging in relevant modules of MoveEasy's "Lego-like" software.
This broader set of services could eventually lead to a name change for the company, still legally named Move EZ Inc.
Based at 855 Grandview Ave., it's grown to 78 employees from 62 in spring. About half the team are in Central Ohio, and the rest remote throughout the U.S. and an engineering group in India.
MoveEasy will be hiring judiciously with the round, Ganapathy said.
"As much as I want to continue growing the company, a bigger focus is I don’t want to lay off," he said. "The sustainability of the company should be the true motivation for every entrepreneur."
Founded out of the former 10X business accelerator, the company has gone through several pivots and had three employees until 2018. Real estate contacts and other industry participants including Travelers gave invaluable insight that led to the breakthroughs of the past two years, Ganapathy said.
"The journey itself has been humbling," he said.
