Houston, TX -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/11/2018 --Apartment Butler, the Resident Concierge Platform for apartment communities, today announced the closing of a $2 million venture round led by Mercury Fund, with participation from Capital Factory. The funds will be used to hire talent, develop new services and features, and expand geographic reach.
With the investment, Apartment Butler also announced the addition of Meghan Tuerff as Director of Operations. Tuerff was formerly an operations and compliance executive with Uber and GE. "I'm honored to join this impressive team in creating easy-to-use services for a large, concentrated, and formerly under-served customer base. The investment from Mercury Fund brings tremendous credibility and capabilities to our efforts and will help us transform apartment living," said Tuerff.
Apartment Butler was founded in Houston by Ben Johnson, CEO, in 2016. The company has been scaling rapidly within the technology accelerator Station Houston. The Company is currently working with 11 of the top 15 apartment managers in Texas, including Greystar, Lincoln, and Alliance.
"The model that we are creating will be the new standard for how apartment residents receive home services. By eliminating driving and arriving, we can increase a typical housekeeping crew's efficiency by 40-60%. This is a radical change to how home services will be delivered to the multifamily industry," said Johnson.
"This milestone is a testament to the opportunities available for Houston's enterprise organizations to connect with our rapidly growing community of technology startups. Ben and his team have accomplished a great deal during their time at Station and it's been a pleasure to witness their growth and transformation.", said Gabriella Rowe, CEO of Station Houston.
Apartment Butler is a Resident Concierge Platform that provides an innovative, hotel-style living experience to residents. With the touch of a button, residents can arrange pre-scheduled or on-demand services for their home needs. By aggregating "density" in resident demand, Apartment Butler is able to fundamentally lower the cost structure of home services such as housekeeping, pet sitting, or laundry. Further, it can provide unique "micro" services that were previously uneconomic, such as bed making, dish washing, linen changing, grocery delivery, package shipping, and many more.
"Houston is the perfect place to launch Apartment Butler as the city is one of the largest aggregations of Class A apartments in the U.S. We've been following Ben and his team for some time, and are excited to be leading their investment round," said Blair Garrou, Managing Director of Mercury Fund. "It's exciting to see digital platforms like Apartment Butler thrive in Houston – a testament to the success that startup development organizations like Station Houston are having on the city."
About Apartment Butler
Apartment Butler is a mobile-first, Resident Concierge Platform for apartments. The Company partners with top-tier communities to offer high-touch services to apartment residents. These services, such as housekeeping, pet sitting, dry cleaning, and laundry, can be scheduled regularly or ordered last minute. By partnering with the property management, Apartment Butler can offer a seamless that is fundamentally unique to residents. For more information, please visit http://www.apartmentbutler.com.
About Mercury Fund
Mercury Fund is an early-stage venture capital firm. With over $250 million under management, Mercury focuses on entrepreneurs and technology innovation originating in the U.S. Midcontinent. Our investment themes target SaaS, Cloud, and Data Science/AI platforms that make the industrial ecosystems of Middle America more competitive and efficient. Over a decade ago, Mercury recognized the rise of entrepreneurs and innovation in the underinvested Midcontinent. Our venture investment strategy leverages our network of midcontinent startup development organizations, corporate innovation partners, and co-investors to assist entrepreneurs with the resources they need to rapidly scale their businesses. For more information, please visit http://www.mercuryfund.com or follow @MercuryFund on twitter.
About Capital Factory
Capital Factory is the center of gravity for entrepreneurs in Texas, the best state for startups. Last year more than 100,000 entrepreneurs, programmers and designers gathered day and night, in-person and online for meetups, classes and coworking. We meet the best entrepreneurs in Austin and introduce them to their first investors, employees, mentors and customers. According to Pitchbook, Capital Factory has been the most active investor in Texas since 2013. For more information, please visit http://www.capitalfactory.com or follow @CapitalFactory on twitter.
Apartment Butler Closes $2 Million Venture Round