Eden, a startup that matches offices with cleaners and other workers, just raised $25 million from backers including Fifth Wall, RXR Realty, and one of Japan's largest developers
- Eden, a marketplace for office cleaners and other service providers, said on Tuesday that it closed a $25 million Series B fundraising round.
- The funding was led by Reshape, a tech venture fund that invested in Reddit, Bird, and Sonder, and also included landlords and developers like RXR Realty, which invested in ghost kitchen startup Kitchen United with GV (formerly Google Ventures) this year, Thor Equities, and Japanese developer Mitsui Fudosan.
There were multiple returning investors that had helped the company raise $15 million in previous rounds, including Fifth Wall, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Comcast Ventures.
- Eden connects customers with office vendors like cleaners, IT help, technicians, and even snack providers.
- One of Eden's closest competitors, Managed by Q, was acquired by WeWork earlier this year for $220 million. WeWork is now looking to sell Managed by Q, according to media reports, as the coworking company cuts non-core businesses after its failed IPO.
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Eden, a startup that connects customers with office cleaners and other service providers, said on Tuesday that it has closed a $25 million Series B fundraising round.
Eden was originally launched with the help of Y Combinator in 2015. The company is now active in 25 markets, including international markets like London, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Rio de Janeiro, and said it hosted more than $50 million in transactions over the last year.
The latest funding was led by Reshape, a tech venture fund that has invested in Reddit, Bird, and Sonder. Eden declined to provide a valuation.
The funding also included landlords and developers like RXR Realty, which invested in ghost kitchen startup Kitchen United with GV (formerly Google Ventures) this year, Thor Equities, and large Japanese developer Mitsui Fudosan. There were multiple repeat investors who had helped the company raise $15 million in previous rounds, including Fifth Wall, proptech's biggest fund; Bessemer Venture Partners, one of Silicon Valley's oldest funds; and Comcast Ventures.
Eden's service is something of a cross between Uber and the two giants of managed services in real estate, JLL and CBRE. Eden operates a marketplace of office vendors, including general and specialized cleaners, IT help, technicians, and even snack providers. The company says it has of hundreds of customers, including flexible office space provider Convene.
Joe Du Bey, the chief executive and cofounder of Eden, hopes that his company can become the ubiquitous source of workplace services for any industry, even between competitors in the flex-space market.
The company was originally founded to provide IT support direct to consumers from W-2 employees. But Du Bey and his cofounders noticed early on that one of Eden's largest client groups was small businesses who needed tech support.
Over time, the company focused only on enterprise customers, taking a marketplace approach instead of hiring employees directly, and moving towards a full suite of facilities services.
Eden says its marketplace is relatively "closed" and that each vendor is extensively vetted through conversations with local office managers and real estate professionals. Each provider is rated based on the work they do, and Eden will issue a refund to a customer if any of the work is significantly below par.
Du Bey said the company attracts vendors by offering free marketing as well as accounting and HR software. Du Bey compares Eden to JLL and CBRE, which offer their own sort of marketplace, but with personal relationships as the backbone instead of tech.
Eden plans to use the fresh capital to continue growing to new markets and even potentially work directly with landlords.
The company acquired facility-manager social network OrgOrg in 2018, but has so far avoided making any big changes to the website. Du Bey said that some integrations, such as providing Eden's ratings on OrgOrg and providing instant referrals to the service, may be in the cards in the future.
One of Eden's closest competitors, Managed by Q, was acquired by WeWork earlier this year for $220 million. Managed by Q actually employs cleaners and other office service providers instead of Eden's marketplace approach.
According to media reports, WeWork's new co-CEOs are now looking to sell Managed by Q as part of a push to cut noncore businesses after the coworking company's failed attempt at an IPO.
Meanwhile, Business Insider has reported that WeWork is now outsourcing its US and Canada facilities staff to JLL starting in early December, per a memo to employees.
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