Porch Acquires Advice Marketplace To Take Services Mobile

Home services digital platform company Porch said on Thursday (Oct. 29) that it bought Fountain, a service that connects experts — ranging from doctors to mechanics — to Internet users online through chats and text communication. Terms of the deal remained undisclosed.

As reported by TechCrunch, Fountain was cofounded by Aaron Patzer, who also founded Mint. Patzer is moving overseas for “personal reasons,” as TechCrunch noted, rather than joining Porch. Fountain Cofounder and CTO Jean Sini will stay on and lead Porch’s San Francisco office.

In its rather brief existence, Fountain, which debuted in beta last year, raised $4 million in a funding round through Shasta Ventures and First Round Capital.

TechCrunch noted that the link between the two companies, via the merger, means that Porch gets to have a virtual platform for do-it-yourself projects.

Matt Ehrlichman, Porch’s CEO and chairman, told TechCrunch that “with the acquisition of Fountain, we will take huge steps forward with our consumer experience, helping homeowners get connected with the very best guaranteed professionals or now complete projects themselves with help from home experts, powered by Fountain’s natural language search, artificial intelligence and communication technology.”

Though TechCrunch noted that there is not much in the way of data to determine Fountain’s reach or user base, Porch has said that in 2014 it delivered $1.8 billion in potential new business to about 100,000 home improvement professionals. The user base has 3.4 million professionals across the nation.

[bctt tweet=”Porch has said that in 2014 it delivered $1.8 billion in potential new business to about 100,000 home improvement professionals.”]

Further, in reference to staff, Porch said it has enlisted Eric Doerr, formerly of Microsoft, as its chief product officer and Jim Dantlzer, who headed UX design for Amazon Instant Video, as VP of design, according to information disclosed alongside the Porch news.

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