Canadian insurance giant Intact Financial Corporation has acquired Toronto-based home maintenance software startup Jiffy for an undisclosed amount.
According to a statement issued by Intact, the deal, which closed Oct. 1, is aimed at expanding Jiiffy’s service to more Canadian jurisdictions.
Intact claimed that Jiffy’s pros have maintained a median response time of less than five minutes to date.
Imen Zitouni, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Intact, declined to disclose the value of the deal to BetaKit, but noted it was executed by Intact Ventures, the insurance firm’s investment arm.
She said this is the first time that the Intact Ventures team has extended its mandate to mergers and acquisitions on behalf of the firm.
Intact said all of Jiffy’s team members, including co-founders Ryan Shupak and Paul Arlin, have joined Intact Financial Corporation and will continue to operate under the Jiffy brand. Shupak’s current titles are vice president at Intact, and president of Jiffy, while Arlin is now vice president at Intact and head of marketplace and operations at Jiffy.
Founded in 2015, Jiffy offers a gig-work platform that connects homeowners with pre-vetted home service professionals in over 20 categories, such as plumbing, electrical work, and roofing. The app acts as a marketplace that streamlines sourcing and scheduling. In a statement, Intact claimed that Jiffy’s professionals have completed over 450,000 jobs to date.
While several home maintenance apps exist in Canada, most notably Edmonton-based Jobber, part of Jiffy’s value proposition is speed. Intact claimed that Jiffy’s workers have maintained a median response time of less than five minutes to date.
Speaking with The Globe and Mail in 2015, Arlin attributed this efficiency to the fact that the platform notifies “dozens” of providers in a specific category when a service request is placed, allowing those with schedule gaps to take the job quickly.
Zitouni explained that the company’s research indicated that finding home service professionals was the top pain point among homeowners, adding the acquisition is aimed at strengthening Intact’s presence in the home maintenance market.
“It’s a natural partnership that will help customers keep their homes in the best condition possible,” Zitouni added.
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Over the last 10 years, Jiffy has secured several rounds of funding, including $500,000 in seed financing in 2015, which was shortly followed by an additional $1 million. The startup closed $3 million in follow-on financing 2018, which was led by Golden Venture Partners. Its other investors include Hedgewood and Two Small Fish Ventures.
Intact said the acquisition will expand Jiffy’s service to more customers and more Canadian jurisdictions, with Zitouni noting that the teams are currently exploring where those next markets will be. Since its founding, the startup has expanded to serve the Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa, and Calgary, with the latter city joining earlier this year.
“Intact is the perfect partner to help Jiffy deliver the most accessible and reliable home maintenance solutions for homeowners, as well as providing the best tools for home service providers to expand their businesses to more Canadians,” co-founder Arlin said in a statement.
In its statement, Intact also claimed the acquisition has a climate-conscious angle, noting that Jiffy’s focus on essential home maintenance, such as cleaning eavestroughs, installing sump pumps, and repairing roofs, helps homeowners address issues that could be exacerbated by extreme weather.
Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Theme Photos.
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