French startup Matera has announced that is has raised a new $43 million (€35 million) Series B funding round led by Mubadala Capital. Bpifrance, Burda Principal Investments as well as existing investors Index Ventures and Samaipata are also participating.
The company is building a vertical SaaS for residential property management. In France, co-owners of the common space of a building can decide to ditch the company that handles residential building management for them and do it themselves.
And it could work particularly well for small buildings with 10 or 15 apartments. There are fewer relationships to manage, fewer bills to pay and less work in general.
When co-owners vote to switch to Matera, they get a web-based platform and a mobile app to view information and see all the contracts with various partners — think about elevator maintenance, heating maintenance, water, electricity, etc.
If something feels odd, you can contact a residential building expert on Matera. They can help you make sure you comply with the law and file paperwork for you.
The platform also guides you when it comes to leading an annual co-owner meeting. It can help you communicate with all co-owners with a forum, an on-demand letter service, etc. Essentially, all co-owners get their own login information.
In October 2020, the company launched a new service to tackle a bigger chunk of the building management stack. Matera clients can now decide to manage their building’s bank account through the platform. This way, co-owners pay directly on Matera and everybody can keep track of the budget over time.
With today’s funding round, Matera plans to expand to Germany. The startup has been growing rapidly as it now manages 3,000 buildings, representing a 300% year-over-year jump. Overall, 60,000 owners use Matera.
“This past year gave us the opportunity to prove the relevance of our model and our value proposition, showing why Matera is the perfect solution for our times. The crisis sped up the digital transformation of our market, while at the same time increasing the attachment to our homes and buildings,” co-founder and CEO Raphaël di Meglio said in a statement. “Our clients wanted more transparency, and to save money and that’s exactly what we can bring them.”
By the end of 2021, Matera wants to manage 6,000 buildings including 40 in Germany. The company currently has 200 employees and plans to hire another 50 employees.
