On-demand e-commerce delivery has grown rapidly in traditional retail, but other key sectors of the economy also rely on e-commerce to stay afloat.
The construction and building materials segment is a small but rapidly growing business opportunity for e-commerce sellers, but getting the goods to work sites is problematic.
“RenoRun is a contractor’s best friend,” said Eamonn O’Rourke, CEO and founder of RenoRun. “We continuously strive to be the world’s most contractor-centric brand. We make sourcing and getting materials to a job site easier than ever before. We’re confident our solution-oriented company will resonate strongly in the D.C. market.”
RenoRun, which is based in Montreal, Canada, announced it has raised $142 million in a series B round co-led by Tiger Global and Sozo Ventures. As part of the announcement, the e-commerce delivery platform said it will expand in the United States, launching in Washington, D.C. The company already operates in Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia in addition to Toronto and Montreal.
Additional new investors included Investissement Quebec, SE Ventures, BDC Capital’s Women in Technology and Growth Venture Co-Investment Funds, Fifth Wall, Desjardins Capital, Nicola Wealth, Export Development Canada, and TriplePoint Capital. They were joined by existing RenoRun investors, which include Scale Up, Obvious Ventures, Inovia Capital, Real Ventures, Maple VC, and Silicon Valley Bank. Strategic investors from GGV, Opendoor, Sonder and founders from GoodFood also joined the round.
Watch: The last mile of omnichannel commerce
Founded in 2017, RenoRun allows construction professionals to order building supplies from manufacturers, distributors and suppliers and handles the last-mile delivery of those items. O’Rourke and co-founders Joelle Chartrand, vice president of culture, and Paul Wurth, chief revenue officer, came up with the idea for the business after observing more than 1,000 contractors and construction workers walk into Montreal hardware stores per hour — time they felt was taking them away from their primary mission.
“We began this company with the simple mission of making the lives of contractors easier and more efficient. Contractors are entrepreneurs who are juggling an enormous amount of tasks on a weekly basis. Our goal is to give them more time and to help them scale amazing long-lasting businesses by building the world’s most contractor-centric brand,” said O’Rourke. “I am incredibly proud of our team that has helped us expand across six markets in Canada and the U.S. With our new funding led by Tiger Global and Sozo Ventures, we are able to grow to the next level to be top of mind for each and every contractor across North America.”
RenoRun’s digitized platform allows for customized orders of thousands of building and construction materials, including lumber, drywall, insulation, shingles, siding, hardware and doors.
Click for more articles by Brian Straight.
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