Setter

About Setter

Setter was a digital home management platform founded in Toronto in 2016 by David Steckel and Guillaume Laliberté. Steckel, leveraging his decade of experience as a general contractor, identified a need to bring the principles of commercial facilities maintenance to the residential market. The company aimed to simplify homeownership by acting as a centralized hub for all home maintenance and repair needs.

The business operated on a model that connected homeowners with a personal Home Manager through a mobile application. Clients could use the app to chat with home experts, send photos of issues, receive quotes, and book a wide range of services, including plumbing, electrical work, roofing, and cleaning. The platform's core offering also included a virtual home checkup and a personalized maintenance plan to proactively address potential problems and prevent costly emergencies. This service was designed to give homeowners a clear plan and budget for ongoing upkeep. In May 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Setter pivoted its business model to focus on software, sunsetting its managed services and mobile apps to concentrate on a new digital homeowner experience, including the Virtual Home Checkup and a HomeHub platform.

Setter successfully raised a total of $20 million USD in capital. This included a significant $10 million Series A round in 2018, co-led by prominent venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and NFX. In December 2020, the company was acquired by Thumbtack, a leading local services marketplace, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition enabled Thumbtack to integrate Setter's technology and expertise to launch a personalized home maintenance service for its users across the United States.