Austin-based Spruce raises $8M Series A to change apartment life forever

Apartment communities are vibrant micro-economies of services and goods. From dog walkers and grocery delivery to dry cleaning pick-up and drop-off, there are 100+ transactions every day. Spruce is an Austin-based tech startup aiming to efficiently channel these interactions into a single marketplace. Through the intuitive Spruce app, residents can easily book housekeeping, pet care, laundry, and other services on-demand.

Yesterday, Spruce announced it has closed $8M in Series A funding to accelerate market expansion, increase offerings, and broaden footprint across the U.S. The round is led by Houston-based Mercury Fund and included participation from Sweat Equity Partners. In conjunction with the funding, Spruce also announced it has added Steven Pho, a marketplace executive with successful exits at Favor and RetailMeNot, to its board of directors.

Since Spruce’s last round of equity funding in July 2019, the company has expanded into 9 markets and has over 760 properties with 230,000 units on its platform.

Founded in 2016 by Ben Johnson,  Spruce’s mission is to build relationships and technology that empower local businesses to serve residents. As the leading provider of lifestyle services to the multifamily industry, Spruce offers Housekeeping, Chores, Pet Care, Laundry, and Dry Cleaning services to more than 750 apartment communities across the US. Through the intuitive Spruce app, residents can easily book services from certified, insured, and background-checked professionals. Spruce is focused on delivering the highest-quality services to residents on-demand.

“Spruce is changing how people live in their homes,” said founder and CEO Ben Johnson. “Today’s apartment community is a vibrant micro-economy for services and goods, and Spruce efficiently channels these interactions into a single marketplace. This Series A will expand our offerings to more residents and properties as well as continue our national roll-out.”

By harnessing the scale and density of these multifamily communities, Spruce has reimagined how services are delivered to residents. Spruce works with locally-owned service companies (not independent contractors) and provides them with proprietary workflow management software (Spruce OS) and access to scale benefits like customer service and density discounts. Through our partnerships with properties, Spruce can integrate with property management software and capture resident data that we use to curate residents’ living experiences.