Renovate Robotics has closed a $3M pre-seed funding round to automate roofing. This round was led by Alley Robotics Ventures, with participation from New System Ventures, Grit Ventures, SOSV’s HAX, Newlab, Uphonest Capital, and Climate Capital.

Renovate’s first product, Rufus, is an automated roofing robot that installs traditional asphalt shingles at 3X the rate of a human roofer. Rufus is designed to reduce labor requirements by half while also increasing overall worker safety and unit economics for roofing contractors.

“There are over 80 million single family homes in the United States, all of which need their roofs replaced every 20 years. We also build over 1 million new homes each year, making the demand for roofing greater than ever. It's an industry where automation and robotics will make a huge impact,” said Andrew Stulc, co-founder and CEO of Renovate Robotics.

Renovate Robotics will initially go to market as a subcontractor, using their technology to complete jobs with partner roofing contractors. Ultimately, the company will lease their machines to roofing contractors, allowing them to double productivity and improve unit economics.

“We’re at the beginning of a huge shift in how we design, build, and maintain the built environment. Today’s buildings are designed to be built by humans. With advances in robotics and automation, future buildings will be designed for humans and robots to install together, and will be safer and more robust to adapt to severe changes in climate,” Dylan Crow, co-founder and COO of Renovate Robotics. 

This funding round will support team expansion, as Renovate Robotics looks to recruit top engineers and roboticists. Renovate will also use the funds for manufacturing and testing their fleet of robots.

Renovate was founded by Andrew Stulc, a seasoned engineer who cut his teeth in automated aerospace manufacturing at ElectroImpact. Andy is joined by co-founder Dylan Crow, a former investor at SOSV’s HAX who initially led Renovate Robotics’ first investment round during his time at the fund in February of 2022, and left shortly thereafter to join the startup full time.