SAN FRANCISCO — Arch, a company with a data intelligence platform for HVAC contractors, has raised $6.2 million in seed funding from Gigascale Capital, Coatue, Floodgate, ReGen Ventures, and MCJ Collective.
The investment comes as many Americans want to electrify their homes but face high upfront costs and a shortage of qualified installers. Arch aims to ease those issues by transforming the sales process and making heat pumps the obvious financial and performance choice for contractors and homeowners, the company said in a press release.
The company will use the funds to grow its engineering team and expand its customer base in the Northeast and California.
Contractors typically face time-consuming sales processes and low conversion rates, spending 80% of their time on leads that won’t convert, a cost shared across every installed heat pump, the Arch press release said. Arch’s system of intelligence for revenue generation integrates data from over 12 sources and uses proprietary algorithms to offer intelligence beyond workflow automation, the company said.
The platform enables contractors to quickly analyze homes, optimize heat-pump systems, and will soon include savings calculations. With these insights, Arch will unlock competitive point-of-sale financing and further boost contractors’ sales, the press release said.
“I was a solar installer myself, have been on the road with contractors, and know how frustrating it is to invest time upfront and miss out on a sale,” said Phil Krinner, co-founder and CEO of Arch. “Heat pumps are currently a black box. By providing insights to contractors, homeowners, and financiers, we’re helping them translate heat pumps into a financial opportunity.”
Electric heat pumps are outselling gas furnaces as consumers navigate roller-coaster energy prices and increasingly frequent heatwaves, and take advantage of federal, state, and utility incentives. The technology cools and heats with significantly lower carbon emissions compared to traditional air-conditioners and furnaces that rely on fossil fuels.
Rewiring America’s analysis suggests that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) can provide American households with an average of $10,600 for full electrification, saving them an average of $1,800 annually on energy bills. In September 2023, a coalition of 25 states, representing 55% of the U.S. population, committed to installing 20 million residential heat pumps by 2030. The International Energy Agency estimates that the U.S. must invest $160 billion annually by 2030 to meet its goals.
Arch is designed to help contractors capitalize on increasing demand by making their work more efficient. The platform cuts down the time spent on paperwork, site visits, and creating estimates, the company said.
Once a system is designed, the goal is for contractors to use Arch’s savings forecasts to provide homeowners with a clear view of a heat pump’s long-term return on investment. Additionally, Arch plans to provide its insights to lenders to unlock the industry’s most competitive point-of-sale financing, the company said.