Jiayue (Jenny) He, a U of T alumna and co-founder of Ergeon, shares with TechCrunch the vision behind her construction startup.
The vision of the Silicon Valley startup is simple – to bring convenience to everyone when they order construction projects at home, including fence installation and driveway construction, more in the same way they order other products and services online. He explains that more tech has been catered for the commercial side of construction – the billion dollar big projects. Yet, when it comes to residential construction projects, things are different. Results could be of very inconsistent quality, processes could run the average homeowner over budget.
“I just want to be able to book something the way I book everything else in my life: Online,” said He.
By bringing in innovation, transparency and accessibility to the conventional construction industry, the company has completed over 8,000 projects in California alone (it also operates in Texas) and has raised more than $35 million from investors, since its launch in 2018.
“Of course, our vision is to go toward building the entire home. It’s just one piece at a time,” said He.
Ergeon is one of more than 400 promising startups that have played a role in U of T’s status as the fastest riser in the 2021 PitchBook rankings for undergraduate programs, which rank universities on how many undergraduate alumni become founders of venture capital-backed companies.