NEW YORK, NY – Vergo, a new financial platform dedicated to the home renovation and building industry to streamline project finances, recently launched a program to reimagine how interior designers, architects, contractors and builders manage their project finances. Vergo is backed by some of the world’s leading venture capital firms and angel investors, world-renowned interior designer Kelly Wearstler, and the co-founder of Thumbtack, Sander Daniels.
Vergo CEO and Co-Founder Rich Kane fell upon the idea for the company after building several businesses in the industry, including an interior design studio, furniture store and carpentry business. Reflective on the pain points he experienced running these businesses, Kane realized that it all came back to managing project finances and how many hours were wasted each week reconciling bank statements, invoices, returns and receipts to figure out how much of the client’s budget had been used so he could respond to his client's demanding questions. As his businesses grew and won more projects, the problems intensified with no clear path to scaling without hiring an army of project managers.
Getting paid by clients on time, paying contractors, managing invoices and paying sales taxes were just some of the many other constant daily headaches which made running businesses in this industry hard. In early 2021, Kane made the decision to leave JPMorgan where he was a senior vice president for the Technology Strategy team, and partnered with his Mexico City-based co-founder Einar Hohenstein to build Vergo.
“I thought I was the only one doing it all wrong and that everyone else must have been using better software or processes,” said Kane. “After months of speaking to hundreds of other business owners in the industry though, I realized I was not alone and that everyone else experienced the same problems with some even going bankrupt from struggling to manage project finances.”
Vergo, which accumulated more than 3,000 businesses on its waitlist, recently launched its free business checking account, including project cards that allow customers to get a real time view of their project’s financial analytics. There are no credit checks to apply, no minimum balance and no fees on checks, ACH and wires. Vergo also offers a competitive 1% cash back program and new joiners can enjoy a bonus of 3% cash back on their first $5,000 spent.
“Effective financial management of architecture and interior design projects is fundamental to their success,” said Wearstler. “With its capability to streamline this process for all parties involved, Vergo will be an essential tool for architects and designers.”
"There are no great tools on the market to help home renovation businesses manage their finances,” said Daniels. “The opportunity to build something great for these businesses is enormous. I'm excited to see the Vergo team going after this huge opportunity with their financial platform."
