Weaver, a London-based marketplace and SaaS contract negotiation platform that connects homeowners and architects planning big home renovation projects with certified contractors, has raised $4 million in a preliminary round to expand throughout the country.
Enterprise Fund (a syndicate of former Atlassian and Docker employees) and Dr. Stefan Heitmann (founder and CEO of MoneyPark and PriceHubble) were among those that participated in the round, which was led by European VC btov Partners.
The business, which was launched in 2017, had already collected $1.5 million in pre-seed funding from a variety of angel investors, bringing its total raised to $5.5 million.
Weaver’s platform uses an algorithm to match homeowners and architects with relevant contractors, making it easier to get quotations and compare prices without the hassle of having to manually research and contact contractors.
Through built-in messaging, document exchange, and on-site meeting scheduling features, it is also meant to contain critical communications around the contract negotiation and bid process. As a result, the platform serves as a centralised funnel that keeps everyone informed and can be used to track compliance.
“We began as two industry founders seeking product/market fit with no-code SaaS while bootstrapping and minimising investment.” In 2020, we invited two tech founders to join us, and it took us about a year and a half to achieve product/market fit on a proprietary platform, “explains the team.
Weaver’s platform requires contractors to be personally vetted before being permitted into the marketplace, where they can bid on high-end projects. Weaver inspects them on a regular basis to assess the quality of their work and detect any other issues, such as early indicators of insolvency. Weaver also serves as a troubleshooter for any issues that arise during the construction process.
In the following order, Weaver is addressing a basic problem of communication between homeowners and contractors: “One is finding trustworthy contractors, and the other is gaining confidence in the renovation pricing,” explains Keane. Next, we’ll address the issues of determining how to reach an agreement on a contract and mitigating the danger of contractor insolvency.
“An algorithm matches renovation jobs to contractors,” he confirms. We’ve also designed the first proper SaaS tendering platform for home renovations anywhere, where users can communicate information via messaging, document sharing, and site meeting scheduling-we’re hoping for a network effect here.”
Construction is a difficult industry for startups to disrupt since it’s best thought of as a number of discrete sub-markets with their own workflows and suppliers, rather than a single market to swiftly scale across (as well as, oftentimes, specific regulatory requirements to meet).
However, by applying the detail that great software as a service provides, that multiple landscape may provide an opportunity to lean into the necessary depth and speciality.
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