Home renovation projects can be unpredictable for both clients and builders. Meanwhile, small contractors barely use modern software, and home renovation giants like IKEA tend to stick with outdated software. UK startup Beams thinks it can solve this conundrum and has now raised a $9 million Series A funding round to solve the problems. This brings his total raised to $13.3 million to date.
This latest round was led by ETF Partners, with participation from existing investors Giant Ventures, firstminute capital and Borusan Ventures.
Beams has a pricing engine that predicts how much a project will cost and how long it will take, compares it to over 6,000 previous construction projects, and then uses 3D photo scans and lasers to build a detailed model of the home to design the renovation.
Founder and CEO Hayden Wood was at renewable energy startup Bulb (later acquired by Octopus Energy out of administration) when he first encountered the problem Beams is trying to solve: “I saw how much friction there was around making homes more efficient energy,” he. told TechCrunch.
“Projects were often too risky or complicated for customers, which meant many avoided upgrades altogether. I realized that if someone could simplify the process and reduce the risks, more people would be able to complete these upgrades and make their homes greener.”
Realizing how little software was used in the renovation process, especially when compared to commercial building projects, he decided that the residential construction sector would be held back by this outdated approach.
Beams is therefore a curated marketplace for customers and builders to find each other, adding software to the home renovation process to make it more predictable and efficient.
A proprietary pricing engine predicts how much a project will ultimately cost and also checks builders before they join the market and after each project.
“We have been operating since September 2023. In that time we have sold over £4m of projects. We are currently active in 130 renovations and have completed 25,” said Wood.
Of course, there are competitors. They include kitchen companies such as Neptune, Plain English, Reform, Uncommon, Devol, Wren and Magnet. And in the UK, lead generation merchant websites such as Checkatrade help contractors find work.
However, Wood says, “no player in the market is building proprietary software that provides an end-to-end solution that requires innovation all the way from planning to construction.”
Beams is entering a sizeable market.
The refurbishment market is worth £380bn in Europe and £5.5bn in London alone.
The company now plans to accelerate product development and growth to serve the rest of the UK and Europe.
But what happens if the plan goes awry or the economy takes a turn for the worse?
“We’re very close to breaking even, so if the plan doesn’t work and growth slows, we’ll stabilize expenses and experiment with other business models,” Wood said.
Commenting on the funding, Lucy Rands, Partner at ETF Partners, added in a statement: “Hayden and the team have built a full suite of services that go beyond simple energy assessments. Their solutions seamlessly integrate sustainability and practical home improvements to help modernize aging housing stock in the UK and Europe.
