QuoteToMe has raised $2.5 million in a fully-subscribed series seed round, which is in addition to the $1 million it raised a year ago.
While last year's raise was rooted in angel investments, the most recent funds were secured from venture capital investors — led by Builders VC in San Francisco, which is focused on the construction proptech space, and Blackhorn Ventures in Colorado.
"This will give us the firepower and resources we need to scale," said CEO John Chabluk. "It will be exciting for us to really open up the sales engine, and grow our sales organization. We are looking at a U.S. expansion within the year, and have a pilot project lined up in Knoxville, Tenn."
QuoteToMe aims to help contractors order materials and equipment digitally by centralizing communication and handling quote comparisons which can often result in better pricing. It makes money by charging a small percentage on each transaction. Chabluk explained that the proceeds from the round will primarily be used for sales, marketing, and engineering.
"We are very focused on the procure-to-pay workflow, and that whole workflow starts with a quote," Chabluk said. "This fundraise will help us expand our feature-set to complete that workflow, digitizing the whole process from order requisition to invoice reconciliation."
QuoteToMe recently moved into office space on 104 Street in downtown Edmonton. The company plans to continue growing in Edmonton. (Mack Male/Flickr)
Steve Dell'Orto is a venture partner with Builders VC and also sits on QuoteToMe's advisory board. In addition to the $400,000 investment, Dell'Orto said he will provide the company with insight into the overall product and scaling of the company, as well as assist with its understanding of the U.S. market.
"We really like the focus on solving the manual antiquated vendor payment process that is unique to the construction industry," said Dell'Orto.
"The hundreds of thousands of people involved in trying to build projects and develop buildings ... they deserve to have more advanced tools at their fingertips and it's exciting that QuoteToMe is able to tackle some of most basic problems that really hinder the productivity of everyone involved in the industry."
In addition to the new funds, QuoteToMe also recently moved into a new office space on 104 Street, and it has plans to expand from 16 staff to about 30 by the end of the year.