Thumbtack, a company that connects customers with local service providers, just announced that it has raised $100 million in new funding.
The round was led by Google Capital (the search giant’s later-stage investment fund), with additional investment from past backers Tiger Global Management, Sequoia Capital, and Javelin Venture Partners.
Thumbtack has now raised a total of $150 million. The new round comes just a few months after the company announced its $30 million Series C.
Apparently the funding will be used to grow the engineering team, and to launch “nationwide marketing campaigns.”
“First and foremost, Thumbtack is a great product,” said Google Capital partner David Lawee in the funding release. “As a consumer, it’s the best product I’ve ever used to hire local professionals. The bigger story, however, is the potential for small businesses: Thumbtack has a real opportunity to transform how local professionals find new customers.”
To use Thumbtack, customers fill out online forms about what they’re looking for, then the company matches them with multiple professionals who can bid for the job. The company’s branding now emphasizes the idea of using Thumbtack for bigger personal projects (as opposed to general services and menial tasks) — customers highlighted on the company website include a couple who hired a photographer to shoot their engagement pictures, an American Idol finalist who paid for singing lessons, and Whole Foods that commissioned an in-store mural.
Thumbtack says it sends $1.8 billion in annual business to more than 75,000 professional service providers. It also says that since it was founded in December 2009, it has helped customers with more than 3 million projects per year.