Smart home systems installer BOXT is to accelerate plans to become the leader in the UK domestic heating market after raising £20 million in a fresh round of funding.
The latest round was led by Brookfield, one of the largest global investors in infrastructure, and follows an initial investment from engineering giant Bosch.
Born out of a belief that the heating industry wasn’t fair on consumers, founders Mel Butler, Andy Kerr and Keith Jones launched BOXT in 2017, developing a unique digital platform to simplify and democratise the process for homeowners.
In less than four years the Leeds-headquartered technology company, which offers the fitting of boilers, electric vehicle chargers and air conditioning with accompanying smart home devices such as thermostats, smoke alarms, cameras and speakers, has become Britain’s second largest boiler installer, providing services to over 100,000 households nationwide.
It is now selling smart home packages via a partnership with Google. The business is aiming to grow its customer base to over 300,000 households by 2025.
Growing to over 70 employees since its inception in 2017, BOXT, which also has an office in London, aims to double its workforce in the next 18 months.
The digital heating disruptor has amassed a network of over 3,000 engineers, with a view to increasing this to 6,000 by 2023 to meet customer demand.
“The company has continually delivered double-digit growth since 2017,” said BOXT founder and CEO Andy Kerr.
“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.”
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