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Moving made easy: Calgary tech startup grows 1,000% in two years



Virtuo Inc.

Virtuo named one of Canada’s fastest-growing companies by Canadian Business/Maclean’s ranking

October 22, 2020 – TheNewswireA local tech start-up that takes the headaches out of moving and the stress out of homeownership, has created a profitable business model in its first few years of operations, earning a coveted spot on the recently released Canadian Business/Maclean’s GROWTH List 2020.

Virtuo’s success and recent expansion into Vancouver and California demonstrate the strength of Alberta’s growing tech sector, says co-founder and CEO Casey Kachur, who began working in his own family’s moving company at 14, breaking down moving boxes and cleaning the moving trucks.

In recognition of its rapid growth, Virtuo was named one of this year’s fastest-growing companies by the Canadian Business and Maclean’s ranking. Formerly known as GROWTH 500, the list was recently announced on canadianbusiness.com and will appear in the December print issue of the national Maclean’s news magazine. Virtuo qualified by increasing its revenue to more than $1 million between 2017 and 2019, marking a revenue growth rate of more than 1,000 per cent.

“It’s validation that we have something consumers want and a business model that works,” said Kachur.

Fewer than five per cent of start-ups achieve annual revenues of $1M and a growth rate of more than 1,000 per cent, notes Kachur. “We fortunately reached that milestone right before COVID and we continue to experience incredible growth,” he added.

Virtuo is a one-stop service that takes care of every aspect of a person’s move into a new home, from cleaning and packing up, to hooking up and unhooking utilities, changing your mailing address, and anything else on your to-do list that causes no end of stress.

“Moving should be one of the most exciting times of your life, yet it’s not. We want to bring that back by helping homeowners navigate the logistics and trouble-shoot problems on their behalf, so they can focus more of their time doing what they love,” said Kachur.

A business-to-business-to-consumer model, Virtuo’s partners include large developers, home builders and mortgage providers, who embed the service in their offerings as a value-add to their customers. Its unique combination of a real-time app powered by a live human concierge is a hit with movers.

“Virtuo gave us a selling advantage in the market,” said partner Sean Nolan, President Excel Homes.  “They gave us something to position ourselves with – that was unique and valued by customers.”  

Virtuo has moved more than 4,000 households in Alberta, B.C., and in key U.S. markets where the company now operates.  It has plans to be in every major city by 2025.  Virtuo has also expanded into home maintenance. In a model typical of townhouses, Virtuo plays the part of a strata or a homeownership association. Services provided include seasonal outdoor and yard work, such as snow clearing, and routine indoor preventative checks, such as furnace cleaning, that are required to run a well-maintained home. This model is particularly popular among millennial homeowners.

 

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About Virtuo

Virtuo began in 2015, born out of the idea that moving into and maintaining a home shouldn’t be as difficult and stressful as it is.  The company’s three co-founders have 50-plus years in combined experience in moving and relocation services, providing valuable insight into the pain and stress of finding and hiring the right professionals to do the job. Now on track to be in more than 10,000 homes and 15 markets by 2021, Virtuo is rapidly expanding its reach. Its proprietary technology and concierge service orchestrate everything a customer needs to do to in homeownership.  Everyone gets a personal concierge that will help them organize and coordinate moving to home care and home lifestyle needs.  The leading customer-service approach is supported by a state-of-the-art, innovative digital App. https://virtuo.com/

For more information, contact:

Gisele Danis, Marketing & Communications – Virtuo

403-390-3553 / gisele@honeycombsolutions.ca