Tiger Global leads Series A for New Zealand's ArchiPro
Tiger Global Management has led a NZD 35m (USD 24m) Series A round for New Zealand’s ArchiPro, a platform that connects homeowners with interior design and construction professionals.
Local investors Icehouse Ventures and Liger Trading also participated. K1W1, a VC firm established by Stephen Tindall, founder of New Zealand retailer The Warehouse Group, provided about NZD 2m in seed funding in 2018. Two Australian entrepreneurs Ruslan Kogan and Hezi Leibovich, invested a combined NZD 5m last year.
ArchiPro claims to be the largest platform of its kind with more than 400,000 active users, 4,000 live building projects and more than 40,000 products across Australia and New Zealand.
The idea is a one-stop shop for every home renovation vertical that lets users find, source, and budget for everything from architects and landscapers to construction materials and home furnishing products.
“ArchiPro created a holistic approach to the fragmented building and home improvement industry,” says Griffin Schroeder, a partner at Tiger Global, said in a statement. “We believe there is a strong demand for this unique platform.”
The free-to-use platform features a visual gallery displaying products, services, and professionals, as well as functions for connecting with suppliers and saving design details. Suppliers pay a membership fee to present their offerings.
The company entered Australia in October last year and has since built out an in-country base of 100,000 monthly active users. CEO Milot Zeqiri said the Australian expansion yielded the same number of paid subscribers in two months as 18 months of marketing in the company’s home country.
Of the 140-strong staff, 26 are now located in Sydney and Melbourne. ArchiPro plans to use the fresh capital to hire 100-150 new staff across Australasia, while introducing new service features and entering North America. The company estimates its target market is worth NZD 30bn in New Zealand and USD 119bn in Australia.
The pandemic, which has resulted in fluctuating construction costs and supplier shortages, is considered a boon for this category. Similar investments around the region in recent months include a USD 50m Series E for India’s HomeLane and a USD 180m round for Singapore’s Livspace.
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