SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today Breezeworks announced that it has raised $5 million in the first-ever investment led by Evan Williams’s recently formed Obvious Ventures. This funding fuels the Breezeworks mission to empower independent service professionals to run their business entirely from their smartphone so they can delight customers and make more money. The series A round includes additional and prior funding from a roster of industry leaders including Marc Benioff of Salesforce.com, James Murdoch of 21st Century Fox, Jeff Skoll, David Sacks of Yammer/Microsoft, Max Levchin, and Peter Thiel.
“Our charter at Obvious Ventures is to help build world positive companies that combine profit and purpose. We are pleased to see Breezeworks pioneer the emerging category of service professional business management and help bring a tech productivity solution to this critical yet underserved portion of the economy,” said James Joaquin, co-founder of Obvious Ventures. “Nearly one in ten U.S. companies is an independent service business with fewer than 20 employees. These small ventures contribute more than $120 billion annually to the GDP, and represent millions of jobs. Thanks to Breezeworks, these small businesses now have access to the modern technology previously only accessible to big business.”
Breezeworks also today announced the new 2.0 release of the Breezeworks Smartphone Business Manager, the first mobile app that allows service professionals to run their business entirely from their Apple iPhone or Android device. Breezeworks 2.0 for service professionals makes it a breeze to schedule appointments, manage jobs, collect payments, eliminate no-shows, navigate traffic, capture repeat business, follow up with customers, and communicate with suppliers.
“While much of the technology-driven productivity revolution has naturally focused on large enterprises, don't forget that independent sole proprietors and small businesses represent a core component of our economy,” said James Murdoch, co-chief operating officer of 21st Century Fox and a Breezeworks investor. “Mathew Cowan and the Breezeworks team had the vision to pursue an overlooked market, and are now primed to tap in to an enormous green-field opportunity.”
Breezeworks 2.0 was purpose-built to make it easier than ever for service professionals to schedule jobs, deliver an outstanding customer experience, and invoice and collect payments quickly. The Breezeworks Smartphone Business Manager provides the following capabilities:
- Appointments: Integrates customer data and job calendar into a 360° view of the service professional’s schedule. Automated reminders and alerts keep customers updated and prevent customer no-shows.
- Drive time manager: Constantly monitors user location throughout the workday and compares it to scheduled appointments, providing traffic-aware notifications that keep technicians on schedule.
- Invoicing and payments: Sophisticated invoicing and payment tools allow service professionals to send a complete professionally-designed invoice to customers via email before they even leave the job site, or accept and record transactions using credit card, cash, or check.
- Teams: Allows business owners to manage teams of any size, including automatic notifications when technician schedules change, location updates, and fine-grained control of employee access to company data.
“The productivity miracle of smartphones and software-driven management tools has revolutionized the way large enterprises work, but many of our country’s five million independent service professionals have been left with little choice but to run their businesses with dog-eared notepads and clipboards,” said Matthew Cowan, chief executive officer and co-founder of Breezeworks. “Breezeworks is on a mission to empower our independent service professionals by giving them the same tools that large enterprises have enjoyed for years - but in a format they can plug immediately into their business to enjoy increased efficiency, productivity and profitability.”
Designed for ease of use and featuring a clean modern aesthetic, Breezeworks gives trade professionals a distinct advantage in customer satisfaction, productivity and increased revenues. The business manager app seamlessly automates jobsite logistics, payment processing, and real-time schedule updates. High-value activities such as booking follow-ups, mobile payments, and automatic arrival time alerts can all be performed on the fly from a smartphone or connected tablet.
The Breezeworks Smartphone Business Manager is now available for download at www.breezeworks.com and from the Apple iOS App Store. Breezeworks for Android will be available in December from the Google Play Store.
Breezeworks is providing a revenue calculator for service professionals to estimate how much additional revenue they may achieve using the Breezeworks Smartphone Business Manager. The revenue calculator is available at www.breezeworks.com/revenue.
A demo of the Breezeworks Smartphone Business Manager is available at www.breezeworks.com/customerdelight.
About Breezeworks – Run Your Service Business From Your Smartphone™
Breezeworks empowers independent service professionals to run their business from their smartphone so they can delight customers and make more money. Breezeworks connects on-site service providers and customers with its smartphone business manager apps, making it a breeze to schedule appointments, manage jobs, collect payments, eliminate no shows, navigate traffic, capture repeat business, follow up with customers and connect with suppliers.
Breezeworks was founded by veteran technologists Mathew Cowan (Intel, CNET, iVillage, Geocities) and Adam Block (IDG, Harmonic Communications) and is backed by foremost institutional investors like Obvious Ventures, Allen & Company, Charles River Ventures, Harmony Partners and XSeed Capital.
