Online Building Marketplace ArchiPro Raises NZ$35m To Fast-track Australian Growth

Online building marketplace ArchiPro today announced the company has raised $35 million in a Series A funding round led by New York-based Tiger Global, with support from Icehouse Ventures, and Queenstown-based Liger Trading.

Driven by a mission to improve and simplify the building industry, ArchiPro connects people wanting to build or renovate with the products and professionals needed to bring their projects to life. The online platform boasts more than 400,000 active users, 4,000 live building projects and more than 40,000 products across Australia and New Zealand. It is the largest online platform for the building industry.

The new funds will be used to accelerate ArchiPro’s growth in Australia and hire between 100-150 new staff on both sides of the Tasman before the year is out, taking the team to more than 300. ArchiPro will also introduce a range of new features that brings buyers and sellers of the building and home improvement worlds closer together.

The 26 ArchiPro Australian team members are currently based in Sydney and Melbourne, with most of its 140 New Zealand staff starting at its Auckland headquarters.

Within the first two months of the company’s October 2021 Australian launch, Group CEO Milot Zeqiri says ArchiPro had signed up the same number of paid subscribers as they gained in New Zealand within 18 months, and now boasts more than 100,000 active Australian monthly users.

“We’ve set out to transform the way we build our homes and cities, making it easier to build quality living and working environments, with the occupant’s health and wellbeing front and centre of the design,” says Milot, who co-founded ArchiPro with his wife, Brittany Gribben in 2014.

“The fluctuating construction costs and supplier shortages seen during the pandemic show a heightened need for the industry to work more closely together to keep projects on track. ArchiPro brings all of the verticals involved with the wider industry together under one roof, so that users can find, source, and budget for everything they need within one place, from the architects, landscapers and interior designers, to the construction materials and home furnishing products.”

“ArchiPro created a holistic approach to the fragmented building and home improvement industry,” says Griffin Schroeder, Partner, Tiger Global. “We believe there is a strong demand for this unique platform and we are thrilled to partner with the ArchiPro team and help them drive growth."

The Series A funding follows a further $5 million of investment received from two Melbourne-based serial entrepreneurs in June 2021: Ruslan Kogan of Kogan.com, and Hezi Leibovich, with the latter known for founding multiple Australian online marketplaces including Catch.com, Menulog and Scoopon (now Luxury Escapes).

Icehouse Ventures CEO Robbie Paul says ArchiPro’s growth and capital raising journey is testament to Archipro’s exceptional team: “This round is a huge milestone for Archipro and the New Zealand startup community. Building marketplaces from scratch is hard but companies like TradeMe and Airbnb demonstrate how impactful they can become. Milot and Brittany first shared their mission with us in 2016 and the pace in which they have brought it to life is remarkable.”

The building industry is worth $30 billion in New Zealand and $119 billion in Australia.

ArchiPro’s platform - How it works

ArchiPro is free to use for consumers, who browse a visual gallery displaying thousands of products, services and professionals, saving the details to their design board or connecting directly with these suppliers, who pay a membership fee to present their offerings.

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