[Axios] Exclusive: Waste management payments firm CurbWaste raises $10M
By Ryan Lawler, author of Axios Pro: Fintech Deals
Curbwaste, a SaaS software and payments provider to the waste management industry, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Flourish Ventures, the company tells Axios exclusively.
Why it matters: Investors are betting on vertical SaaS players finding success integrating fintech offerings into their platforms.
Context: New York-based CurbWaste provides a SaaS platform for managing waste and recycling operations.
- Its software includes CRM, task management, route logistics, fleet tracking and data reporting, as well as online ordering, invoicing, payments and asset management.
- The company also recently launched an integrated e-commerce offering enabling its customers to receive orders directly through their own websites.
By the numbers: About 95% of CurbWaste's SaaS subscribers also use the company's embedded payments, CurbWaste founder Michael Marmo says.
- As a result, the payments business now processes $3 million in monthly transactions for its customers.
Zoom out: According to Marmo, the company now serves 70 haulers and disposal centers in 30 states around the U.S. across urban, suburban and rural settings.
- The system therefore needs to be adaptable enough to accommodate different workflows, but also how different regulatory bodies approach their local markets.
- "All waste is local," he says. "Not only is every state very different, but every city is very different. You have rural, suburban, and urban settings, and each one of those settings has very different dynamics to it."
Of note: This is one of the first new investments to be announced by Flourish since securing $350 million in new capital from sole LP Pierre Omidyar.
- Flourish managing partner Emmalyn Shaw says when it comes to waste management, "There's a real opportunity to take a lot of disparate, poorly constructed point solutions and create a comprehensive cloud-based solution that includes workflow, routing, billing and payments."
Flashback: CurbWaste announced a $4 million seed extension in April led by TTV Capital, with participation from existing investors Mucker Capital and B Capital.
- Altogether, it has raised $20 million since being founded in 2022.
The intrigue: Given the recent seed extension, Marmo says the company wasn't looking to fundraise again until mid-to-late 2024 but opportunistically reached a deal with Flourish
- "One thing that Flourish really brought to the table was this fundamental understanding of how vertical SaaS can add value," Marmo says.
- "They have a very specific ethos, which is this idea that vertical [SaaS] takes time, and you really have to understand the customer pain in order to do it."
What's next: With the new funding, CurbWaste plans to invest more deeply in its fintech offerings to include automated billing, embedded lending and payouts.
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios