Oneflare acquires Australia’s largest online renovation community – StartupSmart

Online home services marketplace Oneflare has announced it has acquired Australia’s largest online renovation community, Renovate Forum, in a deal StartupSmart understands is worth six figures.

 

Renovate Forum has over 40,000 members and is a community for renovators seeking advice and expert opinion on home improvement jobs.

 

The forum has over half a million visits every month, and houses hundreds of threads with questions, ideas, inspiration, and common mistakes.

 

Sydney-based startup Oneflare connects Australians with over 45,000 certified tradespeople, and has booked over $50 million worth of job requests across Australia.

 

It’s free platform allows users to post a job request and let professionals bid for the work.

 

The acquisition enables members of the Renovate Forum to connect with Oneflare’s marketplace.

 

Founder and CEO of Oneflare Marcus Lim says the acquisition of Renovate Forum marks an exciting new direction for the startup.

 

“Renovate Forum taps into the same industry as Oneflare, but in a completely different way,” he says.

 

“Oneflare is all about connecting customers with home services businesses.

 

“Renovate Forum takes our model one step further by allowing and encouraging our customers to start conversations with each other.

 

“In the past, we have lacked the social community aspect to our site.

 

“Today’s announcement enriches the experience of users of both sites.”

 

“Tradies also have free access to Renovate Forum and can easily jump into any conversation with their professional opinion and advice,” Lim says.

 

“This nationwide home services community is set to completely disrupt the industry – a far cry from the days of the yellow pages.”