PreFix announced Wednesday that it has closed on $2.7 million in funding.
The Austin-based home maintenance startup reported that Chicago Ventures led the seed-stage round, which was oversubscribed. To date, PreFix has raised $5 million.
Other investors included Brand Foundry Ventures, Brian Spaly, founder of Bonobos and Trunk Club, Paul Hedrick, founder and CEO of Tecovas, Brett Hurt, Founder and CEO of BazaarVoice and data.world and Firebrand Ventures.
PreFix, founded in 2014, commercially launched in 2018, said James Bilodeau, Founder and CEO.
PreFix provides homeowners with a dedicated Home Manager to fix most things for a low monthly co-payment. The service includes seasonal preventive maintenance on all appliances and systems.
For complex repairs, PreFix uses its own vetted contractors at low, negotiated rates with no markup.
“We started the company because we recognized how broken this market is,” Bilodeau said. “Consumers are left to manage a complexity of home maintenance tasks with no one to trust for help and advice. Consensus “gig economy” models have been attempted in this space but have not addressed core customer pain points. We have invested in building the long-term careers of our employees as part of a tech-enabled platform.”
PreFix plans to use the funding to continue its expansion in Greater Austin, launch in new markets and expand the portfolio of service it provides to its customers, Bilodeau said.
“We have just expanded
coverage to a number of new zip codes this month which include the Avery Ranch
and Circle C communities,” according to PreFix. “We will be launching in Cedar
Park/Leander shortly and will continue to add new zip codes monthly.”
PreFix has 18 employees and plans to hire more rapidly, Bilodeau said. Most of PreFix’s employees are military veterans. The company also went through the Capital Factory Accelerator and the Techstars Austin accelerator.
