Soil Connect launches e-ticketing service for tracking and invoicing of dirt-related transactions
Soil Connect, the first and only institutionally backed digital marketplace focused on the soil and aggregates industry, has closed its $3.25 million seed funding round led by TIA Ventures.
In conjunction with the funding, Soil Connect launched an e-ticketing service that advances its mission to revolutionize the transport and management of soil and aggregates. Historically, the critical ticketing function - which supports the tracking and invoicing of dirt-related transactions - has been completed manually on paper. Under the antiquated paper system, tickets are often illegible, accidently discarded or lost altogether, resulting in a significant loss of time and productivity for contractors. Introducing an easy-to-use digital version facilitates seamless and transparent transactions that help users save time and money.
"As a third-generation builder and developer, the most frustrating part of the job for me was how I continually saw technology change the game for other sectors but bypass the soil and aggregates industry," said Cliff Fetner, Founder and CEO of Soil Connect. "Our goal in launching Soil Connect is not just to create a marketplace, it is to establish the first pure-play one-stop shop for the industry. Making it easier for these individuals to find or dispose of materials was a critical first step, and the e-ticketing function takes it to the next level, further integrating the platform and advancing our objective of supporting the entire transaction from end to end. It's also entirely contactless - an important attribute during the COVID-19 pandemic."
The closing of the seed round comes shortly after Soil Connect announced a series of strategic hires to further grow the marketplace's capabilities, including Jonathan Alvarado as Chief Growth Officer and Berkay Sebat as Head of Mobile. The platform will use the proceeds to continue building out its team and to introduce new enhancements and features, including a regulatory component that will allow users to keep track of materials from origination to destination.
"A large part of our investing strategy focuses on finding companies solving visceral pain in industries that haven't changed in a very long time. We also love marketplace business models where SaaS tools add incremental value for the users. Cliff and the team have founder-market-fit in spades, and Soil Connect's marketplace is unique in that their customers sit on both the supply and demand sides. This gives them an advantage in acquiring customers and allows them to scale faster than a typical marketplace," said Andy Greenfield, general partner of TIA Ventures.
