Roofer.com Raises $7.5 Million Seed Round

Re-roofing startup uses drones and AI to scan residential and commercial roofs

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Talk about raising the roof.

Proptech early-stage startup Roofer.com announced Tuesday that it has raised a $7.5 million seed round to expand its residential and commercial re-roofing business.

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Mucker Capital led the round with participation from Asymmetric Capital Partners, Soma Capital, HF0, Alumni Ventures, Hustle Fund, The Council, GoAhead Ventures, Mirada Capital and several angel investors.

Founded in 2022, the Dallas-based company uses AI algorithms and drone technology to scan residential roofs for re-roofing, as well as a growing enterprise segment that services multifamily apartments and commercial buildings. The drones capture high-resolution photographs, which are then analyzed using computer vision. That analysis provides insights into areas of damage, the remaining life of the roof, and whether a repair or complete re-roofing is necessary. 

The company plans to use the funding to launch in Austin, its second market, said Nathan Mathews, co-founder and CEO of Roofer.com. It is also planning to grow aggressively by streamlining systems, hiring more people to its core team, and entering other yet-unannounced markets in 2024.

“We are a roofing on demand company, and we use drones and AI to basically make that process more efficient,” said Mathews.We have drones that gather images through licensed pilots who are actually manning the drone, and then we process that through our own computer vision software, which auto-identifies impacts and punctures to the roofing system.

“Something cool about us is that we have already acquired one roofing company and we plan to probably acquire one or two more. So that allows us to expand our geographic footprint, to own working relationships, and enter new markets. We’re really doubling down on expansion through acquisition.”

That vertical integration, including doing the roofing work, is a differentiator for Roofer.com, said Mathews. To that end, the company acquired Bearded Brothers Roofing & Restoration, one of the largest roofing companies in Texas, which worked on such notable projects as the San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk, as well as with thousands of area homeowners.

“We’re always looking to partner with roofing company owners,” Mathews added. “We want to buy more companies and power them with AI. That’s always top of mind because it’s part of our business [model].”

In addition, Mathews sees demand for his company’s AI-driven work increasing rapidly.

“I think because of ChatGPT, consumers are aware of the power of AI, in our case specifically, but then broadly speaking in construction as a whole,” he said. “People want AI-powered solutions for everything construction-based. In terms of roofing, we found that it helps us get more transparency, because you don’t have to have a human climb up on a roof anymore. The drone and the computer vision software does all the identification and the inspection process.

“We have seen a lot of demand growth based on our products and based on AI becoming mainstream, not just for investors, but for consumers and companies across the board. It’s a very big trend. I’d argue it’s the biggest shift since mobile [phones] came out.”

Philip Russo can be reached at prusso@commercialobserver.com.