Virtuo named one of Canada's fastest-growing companies by Canadian Business/Maclean's ranking
October 22, 2020 - TheNewswire - VANCOUVER - A Canadian tech start-up that takes the headaches out of moving and the stress out of homeownership, even in Vancouver, has created a profitable business model in its first few years of operations, earning a coveted spot on the recently released Canadian Business/Maclean's GROWTH List 2020.
The one-stop service takes care of every aspect of a homeowner's move and is rapidly expanding into new markets, including Vancouver and Southern California. Headquartered in Calgary, Virtuo has moved more than 4,000 households with its real-time app that is powered by a live, human concierge. Your personal concierge books and coordinates everything involved in the process from moving and cleaning to packing and unpacking, from unhooking to hooking up utilities, changing your mailing address, and anything else on your to-do list that causes no end of stress.
In recognition of its rapid growth, Virtuo was named one of this year's fastest-growing companies by the Canadian Business and Maclean's ranking. Formerly known as GROWTH 500, the list was recently announced on canadianbusiness.com and will appear in the December print issue of the national Maclean's news magazine. Virtuo qualified by increasing its revenue to more than $1 million between 2017 and 2019, marking a revenue growth rate of more than 1,000 per cent.
"It's validation that we have something consumers want and a business model that works," says co-founder and CEO Casey Kachur, who began working in his own family's moving company at 14, breaking down moving boxes and cleaning the moving trucks.
Fewer than five per cent of start-ups achieve annual revenues of $1M and a growth rate of more than 1,000 per cent, says Kachur. "We fortunately reached that milestone in 2019 and hit profitability in March, right before COVID," said the Virtuo co-founder. The company continues to experience incredible growth, he adds.
"Moving should be one of the most exciting times of your life, yet it's not. We want to bring back that excitement and be there for homeowners, by helping navigate the logistics and troubleshoot problems, so they can spend more time doing what they love," says Kachur.
A business-to-business-to-consumer model, Virtuo's partners include large developers, home builders and mortgage providers, who embed the service in their offerings as a value-add to their customers.
"Virtuo has enabled us to deliver a more well-rounded service experience to our homeowners," says Gary Mertens, regional vice-president of Qualico BC, and vice-president of Foxridge Homes, Metro Vancouver. "In addition to building your home, with the help of Virtuo, we can also make the move easier and as stress-free as possible - further elevating the Foxridge home-buying experience."
Virtuo plans to be in every major city by 2025. Virtuo has also expanded into home maintenance. In a model typical of townhouses, Virtuo plays the part of a strata or a homeownership association. Services provided include seasonal, outdoor yard work such as lawn mowing, and routine indoor preventative checks, such as furnace cleaning, that are required to run a well-maintained home. This model is particularly popular among millennial homeowners.
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About Virtuo
Virtuo began in 2015, born out of the idea that moving into and maintaining a home shouldn't be as difficult and stressful as it is. The company's three co-founders have 50-plus years in combined experience in moving and relocation services, providing valuable insight into the pain and stress of finding and hiring the right professionals to do the job. Now on track to be in more than 10,000 homes and 15 markets by 2021, Virtuo is rapidly expanding its reach. Its proprietary technology and concierge service orchestrate everything a customer needs to do to in homeownership. Everyone gets a personal concierge that will help them organize and coordinate moving to home care and home lifestyle needs. The leading customer-service approach is supported by a state-of-the-art, innovative digital App. https://virtuo.com/
For more information, contact:
Gisele Danis, Marketing & Communications - Virtuo
403-390-3553 / gisele@honeycombsolutions.ca
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