The tradesmen industry represents the backbone of the economy, contributing as much as 12% of the GDP of many European countries. At the same time, tradesmen are also crucial to achieving Europe’s ambitious climate targets. Advancing the digitalization of tradesmen SMEs through modern technology is essential for meeting energy-efficient building refurbishment goals. Consequently, there is a significant demand for ERP systems tailored to the needs of tradespeople, offering industry-specific solutions to help them tackle their daily challenges.
Founded in Hanover in 2020 by Dr. Michael Kessler and Philipp Lyding, HERO Software’s platform enables trade business owners and employees to manage all their core workflows in one place, while field workers can access all necessary information on-site. It acts as an operating system for SMEs across various trades, including plumbing, carpentry, photovoltaic installation, and electrical services. From the first customer contact and the preparation of quotes, to the planning and execution of projects on-site, and to the invoicing and payment, all processes are digitally mapped and available at any time on various end devices.
With more than 20,000 users, HERO has established itself as a leader for cloud-based software for tradesmen in the DACH region. The efficiency gains enabled by HERO's technology have enabled its customers to significantly increase their project throughput and more sustainable operations.
"We founded HERO Software with a clear mission: to revolutionize the trades industry through digital innovation,” said Dr. Michael Kessler, Founder and CEO at HERO Software. “This substantial Series B investment provides the resources to accelerate our roadmap and undertake ambitious new projects“.
“At Eight Roads we have witnessed many successful stories in Vertical SaaS, and HERO stands out for its comprehensive product and experienced team. We’re excited to be backing their growth journey”, said Lucile Cornet, Partner at Eight Roads Ventures. “We strongly believe that vertical SaaS will enable entire industries to become more digital and sustainably successful - which is one of our investment thesis’ at Eight Roads Ventures.”
“Michael and Philipp are building a best-in-class product, an incredible team, and achieving strong commercial traction – it has been a pleasure to witness their growth since leading their Series A," says Dr. Maximilian Rowoldt, General Partner at Cusp Capital. "One of the beauties of building an industry-specific operating system is the potential to add functionalities on top of the core software and the resulting levers that enhance your customer’s success. We look forward to continuing to support the entire HERO team in implementing its ambitious strategy."
With the new funding, HERO Software plans to invest in its team, new talent, expand into new markets and further develop its SaaS offering to continue its mission of helping small and medium-sized trades businesses succeed. "Going forward, we are planning to make everything around financial transactions for our customers as easy and smooth as possible. Additionally, we will focus on integrating third party tools & services to our platform to save even more time and thus improve the margins of our customers", said Dr. Michael Kessler, founder and CEO of HERO Software.
Besides the lead investor Eight Roads and the existing investor Cusp Capital also Federated Hermes has participated in this round. “HERO has played a pioneering role, and remains at the forefront of digitising the business operations of a traditional industry in DACH. We look forward to being part of the next phase of growth, and supporting the strategy of the ambitious management team alongside investors Cusp Capital and Eight Roads,” commented Fidel Manolopoulos, Co-Head of EMEA Investment at Federated Hermes.
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