Home improvement startup Curbio Inc. has raised $25 million in fresh funding.
The Potomac company, which covers the cost of home renovations to boost sale prices, said the capital infusion will support “rapidly growing demand” for its services across the country. Specifically, the business will use the financing to develop its technology, expand to new markets and grow its job platform for contractors.
San Francisco’s Comcast Ventures led the round as a new investor, with participation from existing backers Rockville-based Camber Creek, San Francisco-based Brick & Mortar Ventures and the National Association of Realtors's strategic investment arm, Second Century Ventures, which provided both equity and debt financing. Curbio CEO Rick Rudman and board member Tim Whall also invested dollars in the raise.
“I feel very fortunate to have the backing of such a talented group of visionaries in the rapidly growing [property tech] space,” Rudman said in a statement. “Their collective experience will be invaluable to Curbio as we transform a $100 billion industry, which has not seen much innovation over the last few decades.”
Curbio works with real estate agents to handle upgrades to homes slated for sale — think new floors or appliances, for instance — to increase the home’s value before it hits the market. The company coordinates the process. The startup functions as the general contractor on these projects, managing the proposal, administration and site work. It makes money only once the home sells, receiving payment for the renovations at closing.
The latest raise brings Curbio’s total funding to date to $40.55 million, according to venture analytics firm PitchBook. That includes $7.1 million raised in August 2019 and about $4 million in November 2018.
Curbio, which rebranded under its current name after launching in 2016 as MaxSalePrice, said its projects average a 25% increase in selling prices and a 60% decrease in project time, in addition to cutting a home's days on the market in half. It now operates nationally in markets including Baltimore, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Orlando and Miami, among others, but benefits from a robust Washington-area housing market that's seen sales turnaround speed up with high buyer demand and low inventory.
Rudman is the former CEO and chairman of public relations software firm Vocus Inc., which he grew to more than $200 million in revenue over two-plus decades before selling it for $446 million in cash to private equity firm GTCR LLC. He co-founded Curbio with Matthew Siegal, its chief strategy officer, after Siegal’s friend tried to renovate his home to maximize his profit on its sale, then struggled to find financing for the project. Siegal said he estimated that homeowners leave about $30 billion in equity on the table when they sell their home — carving out a huge market for Curbio.
