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HERO digitizes HVAC, plumbing, and solar businesses – a massive market that modern software has barely touched.
ENTRY ANGLES
Build straightforward digital operations tools (job intake, invoicing, scheduling, time tracking) · Enable transition from reactive repair to preventive maintenance business models · Acquire and consolidate small service companies onto unified digital platform
VERTICALS
CAPABILITIES
Operations software development (scheduling, invoicing, time tracking), Preventive maintenance scheduling systems, Multi-tenant platform architecture
HERO FOUNDER
“Shopify for service contractors.”
Most HVAC technicians, plumbers, and solar installers still run their businesses on a mix of phone calls, paper job orders, and spreadsheets. HERO is the platform digitizing that.
The platform works for any service business, but it's particularly popular among contractors specializing in HVAC, plumbing, and solar panel installation – likely because that's where the most potential users are. It scales from solo operators to large companies.
There's nothing technically exotic about what HERO does – and that's part of the point.
The platform covers the full back-office loop: job order intake and invoicing, scheduling, and technician time tracking via mobile app – with hours feeding directly into billing.
Everything lives in the cloud, accessible from a desktop in the office or a phone at a job site.
Standard pricing is €49 or €59 per user per month depending on the feature tier. An additional €29/month tier adds phone support and partner discounts on parts, materials, and legal services.
A warehouse management module – for tracking equipment inventory and spare parts – is coming soon.
HERO now has more than 18,000 users and calls itself the leading platform of its type in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Founded in 2020, it has processed €3.6 billion in job orders since launch. The startup raised €8 million in its first round in 2022 and has just closed a €40 million second round.
This category has been covered before. Jobber – [reviewed earlier](/review/trend-luchshe-hajpa) – is the US equivalent, having raised $183.5 million, including $100 million in a single round.
Topline Pro ([related review](/review/tysjachi-klientov-u-obychnyh-platform)) takes a similar approach with a stronger emphasis on marketing tools – website creation and SEO for service businesses – alongside job management and payments. It has raised $17.2 million.
Durable started in a different direction: an AI-powered website builder. But it added a CRM, job tracking, and invoicing tools – and the platform became particularly popular among service businesses. It's been described as "Shopify for service contractors." Durable has raised $26.5 million.
The thread connecting these companies is the digitization of service businesses, including installation and repair contractors – and that "including" understates the scale. Installation and repair services account for roughly 12% of GDP in many developed economies. In the US, the Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 34.7 million workers in the trades and related service occupations.
In other words: enormous market, and still poorly digitized – both in terms of using the web to acquire customers and using technology to run the business itself.
A massive, underdigitized market – what better target for a technology startup?
One direction is to not overthink it: build straightforward digital operations tools – job intake, invoicing, scheduling, time tracking. That's what HERO does, and it's growing confidently precisely because this category is so behind. In underdeveloped markets, doing the basics well is a meaningful competitive advantage.
The more interesting angle is a structural shift now emerging in the repair and maintenance business. The trend is the move from reactive repair to preventive maintenance. Repairs are slow and expensive; scheduled preventive work is faster, cheaper, and causes less downtime. Service companies that offer preventive maintenance can also move clients to subscription models – generating regular monthly revenue even in the months when nothing breaks.
Scription ([related review](/review/makdonalds-dlja-uslug)) has been building toward this model. Pipedreams has built its entire growth strategy around it – acquiring small HVAC and plumbing companies and transitioning them onto a unified digital platform that includes preventive maintenance scheduling.
The trades market is large enough and technologically underdeveloped enough that almost any well-executed technology intervention can find a foothold. The window to stake a claim is open – but not forever.