Voomi Supply lands $10 million investment

Online HVAC, plumbing, and electrical distributor Voomi Supply will announce Friday morning that it’s closed a $10 million funding round, CEO RJ Cilley tells Homepros.

Catch up quick: Founded in 2019, the Pennsylvania-based company operates as an online marketplace where contractors can buy parts and equipment — over one million SKUs — from a network of distributors and manufacturers nationwide. 

What’s happening: The investment, led by venture capital firm Asymmetric Capital Partners, comes off a year in which Voomi’s revenue grew over 100 percent year-over-year, Cilley said. 

• The company counts more than 200 distributors and manufacturers on its platform and plans to hit $100 million in revenue this year, he added.

The big picture: Rather than replacing primary suppliers, Voomi targets the contractor “who has tried every option” for the fraction of orders where a part or piece of equipment isn’t available locally, according to Cilley. “They’re looking for it… They can’t find it.”

• “Availability is really the big one,” he said. “We’ve digitized millions of SKUs that someone in the country needs but might not be in their local region… That’s the internet.”

Yes, but: The internet brings with it a trust hurdle. 

What we’re watching: “Data quality is the root of all problems in any e-commerce market,” Cilley said. “Is this the actual item that we thought we were going to get? Is the inventory number correct? Do we actually have 20 of those?”

• “On the internet, you have to trust what you’re seeing is what you’re going to get,” he added, “and so where I think as an industry we have so much more maturing to do is all around the product data.”

Looking ahead: Voomi will direct the investment toward building out its technology platform, expanding its supplier network, and scaling its team.