Airship, a company that offers software tools and financial products to help home services owner-operators grow their businesses, came out of stealth with the announcement of a $4 million pre-seed round.
This funding round was led by global fintech specialists QED Investors, with participation from Silence, Lorimer Ventures, Four Acres Capital and Twine Ventures. To coincide with the funding raise, Airship announced partnerships with ServiceTitan, a cloud-based software platform built to power trades businesses, and with multiple home services platforms.
Home services are changing quickly. As millennials become the largest home-owning group and the average U.S. home is more than 50 years old, homeowners are moving away from DIY to DIFM—Do It For Me.
Climate change is increasing the turnover rate as homeowners use air conditioning (AC) more often, replace equipment more frequently, and seek to access the $2+ billion in home improvement tax credits made available by the IRA.
As equipment and labor costs have increased, customers increasingly finance these purchases. And smaller $5,000 air conditioning replacements have become $15,000 heat pump installations. So businesses that once just needed to fix it now need to know how to sell it too.
Airship is simplifying home services sales. While current field service management software focuses on scheduling and dispatch, Airship’s platform provides technology that sits on a tablet when technicians enter the home.
Airship’s software integrates with existing field service management tools, assists with sizing the heating and cooling load, matches equipment to meet regulatory standards, surfaces available incentives and reduces both time and paperwork. And customers using Airship see ticket sizes go up by 20% and close rates improve by more than 15%.
CEO Craig Battin and executive chairman Michael Sachse launched Airship. Battin was formerly the Chief Growth Officer of Earnest, a consumer lending and technology company, and Battin led to over $200 million in annual revenue. And Sachse was previously the CEO of Dandelion Energy, a home geothermal company. Prior to that, Sachse was the chief marketing officer at Opower (one of the early cleantech successes).
The company was backed with over $4 million from a syndicate that included QED, Silence, Lorimer Ventures, Four Acres Capital, and Twine Ventures. It is working with multiple development partners and expects to deploy its product in the coming months.
KEY QUOTES:
“Installing a furnace or heat pump is hard work, but selling them shouldn’t be. After their house and their car, HVAC is the third largest purchase for most homeowners, but selling practices often depend on pen and paper. We’re modernizing home services sales with purpose-built software that connects disparate data, digitizes paper forms and anticipates customer needs. Airship helps HVAC teams deliver better service and maximize transaction value, benefiting both the business and the customer.”
- Airship CEO Craig Battin
“The need for a streamlined buying process for HVAC businesses has never been greater. Due to a slow-changing industry, few options allow homeowners to make better decisions for their homes, wallet and climate. Airship is bringing world-class software and fintech products to the home services space, helping alleviate the pressure businesses are experiencing from a changing climate, increasing regulation, more complex equipment and industry consolidation.”
- Adams Conrad of QED Investors
