Porch.com reveals it raised $27.6M last year, adds new features for homeowners

While some people take up knitting or watercolor painting as a hobby and creative outlet, others use their creative energy on their homes, with remodels and improvements.

Porch.com, which views itself as a “home improvement network” for those creative homebodies, turns one year old today. Now the company is announcing its $27.6 million first round of funding, plus some new features.

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Porch.com is a place where homeowners can plan their home improvements. The site provides a directory of professionals — for example, interior designers and contractors — including which ones have worked on neighbors’ homes. In addition, it contains reviews written by previous customers, a direct way to contact the professionals, and as of today, verifications of their licensing for additional trust and safety.

Homeowners create a profile for their home on the network, which includes its history of projects, the professionals who have worked on it, the permits it received, and more. (The company is partnering up with Realtor.com for this.)

Today Porch.com is giving homeowners the ability to add in their own projects to their home’s profile. They can now also browse other people’s projects for inspiration … and even see the costs.

As the company goes into its second year, chief executive Matt Ehrlichman told VentureBeat that “the next year is really going to be about building out that network,” as well as adding more and more ways for professionals and homeowners to connect and share information. “We’ll continue to invest into that whole lifecycle around the home.”

Porch.com competes with companies such as Angie’s List and Pro.com, which also offer directories and reviews for professionals in the home improvement sector.

The company revealed that it closed this round of funding last year. It was led by Lowe’s, with additional participation from unnamed investors.

Porch.com was founded in 2013 by Ehrlichman, Scott Austin, Ha Phan, Ronnie Castro, and Eric Schleicher.