PropTech is going strong with another billion dollar valuation for a digital marketplace model.
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The home services marketplace Lessen, which is geared towards facilitating the logistics for every stage of home services and repair for both residents and service professionals, announced today their close of a Series B raise bringing the company’s valuation to over $1 billion. This latest raise, of $170 million, was led by Fifth Wall with participation from Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst and Navitas Capital. Lessen closed a Series A round less than six months ago with the same group of investors.
Lessen founder, Jay McKee, passed on in an email the new round of funding would be used to, “invest heavily in product experiences that will include smart notifications, advanced multimedia job progress reporting and location-aware time tracking.” He also added Lessen plans to expand to all fifty markets in the U.S. and would continue to invest in data capabilities, such as providing analytics and insights to clients while also standardizing operational processes and building field training.
Lessen founder Jay McKee
Courtesy of Lessen
Prior to founding Lessen McKee was the founder of Colony American Homes, a residential rental company (which merged with Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust in 2015). McKee says it was his experience in the rental business that showed him the many layers of inefficiencies and waste that exist between homeowners and providers of everything from plumbing to cleaning services. He started Lessen to create a digital platform where homeowners can find service providers and where providers can manage their jobs all the way from service request to final payment.
“Our service pros are growing their businesses with fast payments and predictable work on a purpose-built technology platform,” said McKee. “Many service pros are using Lessen as their default source of jobs, removing the hassles of business development and customer management.”
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Lessen currently operates in over 30 markets with approximately 2,000 service providers and about 450 employees. The company aims to hire at least 1,000 more in 2022.