A growing smart homes systems company is looking to double its workforce and accelerate expansion after raising £20m in new funding.
BOXT now aims to become the leader in the UK domestic heating market after raising the funds in a round led by Brookfield, one of the largest global investors in infrastructure.
The Leeds business, which also has a base in London, offers consumers an uber-style service for fitting boilers, electric vehicle chargers and air conditioning with accompanying smart home devices such as thermostats, smoke alarms, cameras and speakers.
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Founders Mel Butler, Andy Kerr and Keith Jones launched BOXT in 2017, developing a digital platform to simplify the process for homeowners, removing the need for an on-site visit to quote.
Through its online service, customers can get fixed prices and installation within 24 hours.
BOXT also added home cover to its services in 2020, and a boiler repair solution in 2021, along with smart home packages through a partnership with Google, and the business is on course to grow its customer base from 100,000 households to over 300,000 households by 2025.
This latest investment round – which follows an initial investment from engineering giant Bosch – will also allow the business to continue to develop its technology platform as well as its aims to provide innovative, affordable and reliable home heating solutions.
Growing to over 70 employees since its inception, BOXT aims to double its workforce in the next 18 months.
It currently has a network of over 3,000 engineers, and plans to increase this to 6,000 by 2023 to meet customer demand.
Co-founder and CEO Mr Kerr said: “The company has continually delivered double digit growth since 2017.
‘’Bucking the trend of the traditional UK heating industry, we’ve achieved over 50% underlying sales growth despite the challenging economic circumstances throughout the COVID 19 pandemic ’’
“We’ve invested significantly in technology that creates a smooth customer journey, reducing waste and additional journeys for both customers and engineers.
“Nurturing partnerships with Bosch, Google, EDF and Halfords have also strengthened our proposition and momentum in the UK, whilst ensuring the business is at the forefront of innovation.
“Our vision is to be part of the solution to the carbon questions being asked of our industry, supporting our customers - especially the most vulnerable as the UK transitions its heating and energy supply to a more climate friendly future.
“Two thirds of the homes we will live in by 2050 have already been built, so we need to ensure that any new heating and power solutions can fit into existing homes in a more energy efficient and cost-effective way.
“We are pledging to become a net zero carbon business by 2045, reducing our overall carbon emissions by 45% by 2035.
“The latest round of funding will enable us to continue to expand and provide our energy efficient and optimisation products like Google Nest as well as fuel saving technologies to our customers such as electric vehicle charging as well as hydrogen powered boilers and heat pumps.
“We are delighted to have Brookfield as our partner, as one of the largest energy and infrastructure investors in the world. We know they will bring a wealth of knowledge into the business and together, we see an incredibly ambitious future of growth for BOXT.”
Brookfield managing partner Sikander Rashid said: “The UK home heating market is expected to experience accelerating change over the next few decades in response to progress in technology and regulation.
“Having rapidly gained the trust of thousands of consumers, we believe BOXT is well positioned to continue to grow its market share, given the attractiveness of the online offer combined with the scalable and flexible business model.”
DC Advisory acted on behalf of BOXT as corporate finance advisors with Pinsent Masons acting as legal advisors. Squire Patton Boggs acted as the BOXT founders’ legal advisors.
