Jul 12, 2021

Flush with cash: Bathroom revamp startup raises $23M for expansion Flush with cash: Bathroom revamp startup raises $23M for expansion Made Renovation, a bathroom renovation startup, is planning to expand into Los Angeles, Orange County and Seattle after securing new funding Hikesterson | Getty Images From: Inman Connect A Bay Area startup that specializes in bathroom renovations will expand into Los Angeles, Orange County and Seattle after securing $23 million in Series A funding. Made Renovation on Thursday announced the new funding, which comes from Insight Partners and existing investors Base10 Partners, Founders Fund and Felicis Ventures, according to a news release. The company also said Instacart, Doordash and Lime joined this round of funding as “strategic angel investors.” Insight Partners Managing Director Nikhil Sachdev will also join the Made Renovation board of directors, the startup said. ”In this new age of digital disruption heightened by COVID-19, Made Renovation’s all-in-one platform has reimagined the home renovation experience,” Sachdev said in the release, “and we are thrilled to see the company continue scaling as they expand to new markets with this round of funding.” The expansion plans come as homeowners across the country have been increasingly eager to pour money into home improvement projects. Made Renovations is now averaging around $50,000 per day in sales, a number that saw significant growth during the pandemic, the startup said. The typical bathroom renovation on Made Renovation’s service starts at $15,000, the company said. As the company has continued to expand, it has made investments in its internal project-management system, as well as its design and pricing technology. These investments have resulted in new design previews, more successful project completion timelines and increasingly accurate price quotes, the company said. The recent investments are also expected to help the company scale as it looks to expand outside of the San Francisco Bay Area. “We’re proud to be welcoming new investors as we continue to make renovation easier for homeowners and delight them with beautiful new bathrooms,” Made Renovations co-founder and CEO Roger Dickey said in the statement. “Beautiful, aspirational spaces can and should be accessible to more homeowners, and our team is looking forward to delivering just that in new regions.” Bathroom renovations may be attractive for people spending more time living and working from home, but in recent months, renovations in general have not been a particularly fruitful investment from a seller’s perspective. Single-family homes and condos sold by house-flippers totaled only 2.7 percent of all sales in the first quarter of 2021, according to a report from Attom Data Solutions. This was the lowest share observed in more than two decades. Prices and profits on flipped homes were both in decline over this period as well. But in an interview with Forbes , Dickey said these renovations added significant value for residents — especially those who have been spending more time than ever at home. “During COVID-19 people had money to spend … and not many places to go to,” Dickey told the magazine. “Plus they went to the bathroom five times a day.”